RAILWAY AND ROAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 189, 12 August 1933, Page 8

RAILWAY AND ROAD.

Railway returns are particularly interesting now because of the growing demand for restriction of road transport services. The argument against the motor is that it eats into the earnings of the railways and causes a loss which eventually must fall on the public either in higher charges or in taxation to make up the deficit. With traffic reduced as at present, the problem is more acute than would be the case in normal times, and any conclusion drawn from the circumstances of to-day is perhaps open to objection because of this very abnormality. A special onus of responsibility is thus put upon the shoulders of those who have to weigh the scales between the rival kinds of transport. Consideration of the permanent interests of the public must be the guiding feature of policy in the effort to control transport for the benefit of the country as a whole, and in judging between road and rail services the interests of the user must stand above those of the operator. For more than two years -the railways have been under the control of a special Boaid, and during that time there has been an energetic effort to build up revenue and reduce expenditure. The results so far are highly creditable to the Board. They show in the present year that net revenue for four months was over £35,000 better than in the previous year, and suggest that the improvement for twelve 'months might be in the vicinity of £100,000. This is a fine achievement in the face of many difficulties, and it is significant as indicating what can be done by the railways even without restriction on road competition, for this restriction is only now .beginning to operate. It also suggests that in curbing competition it is necessary to 'I go warily, for fear of killing a healthy spirit iof rivalry-