RAIL AND MOTOR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 3, 4 January 1934, Page 10

RAIL AND MOTOR.

INTER-STATE TRAFFIC.

SYDNEY VERSUS MELBOURNE.

HIGH COURT'S DECISION.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, December 30. For some years past the tendency of trade in the Riverina—the southern section of New South Wales watered by tho Murray and the Murruuibidgee —has been to drift into Victoria and toward Melbourne. Thie has naturally caused some anxiety to our Governments, for the Riveriua has been developed by Xcw South Wales capital and enterprise, and our people now see themselves deprived to some extent of the fruite ot their labours; The inroads of motor traffic from across the Victorian border have made a- great difference to railway receipts and the returns to commercial investment in that part of the world. A few months ago it was decided to teat in the Courts the right claimed by Victorian motors to trade in the Riverina and carry goods from that district to Melbourne without registering or paying the charges required in New South Wales. One, Price Hill, a carrier, of Wagga, was charged with having taken goods from the Riverina to Melbourne, though his vehicle was registered in Victoria and not in this State, and he was duly convicted and fined £100, or in default 201 days' imprisonment. The case wae carried to appeal, and a few days ago the Chief Justice and the majority of the Bench of the High Court decided against the appellant. The plea wae that the attempt made by the New South Wales authorities to restrict trade by meane of special fees 'and charges is an infringement of that section of the Constitution, which provides for "free intercourse between the States." But the High Court holds otherwise, and Price Hill must therefore pay his fine, while those who have been following in his footsteps have received due warning. Strict Regulations. It should be understood that the transport regulations dealing with such traffic on the New South Wales side of the border are of a very stringent nature. In their latest amended form the regulations state that a commercial vehiffle coming more than ten miles from the border is subject to full taxation and registration under the Motor Traffic Act, and must also be licensed under the State- Transport Act. Also, if the vehicle competes with the railways for a distance of more than 50 miles, it is subject to charges at the rate of 3d a ton a mile, on the basis of its weight and loading capacity. The- object of these regulations k clearly, twofold—to prevent motor traffic from encroaching unduly on railway business and to defend New South Wales trade against unfair outsido competition. Judging by the approval with which the High Court's decision has been granted in New South Wales and the indignation that it has roused in Victoria, the regulations are likely to operate quite successfully from our point of view. Losing £200,000 a Year. It has been stated by competent observers that New South Wales has been losing at least £200,000 a year to Victoria on tho Riverina trade —thie large sum representing freight charges for goods carried by Victorian motor vehicles, which, not content with simply crossing the border, have systematically exploited our carrying trade as far as Forbes and Pnrkes—in the centre of the State, hundreds of miles north of the Murray. So accustomed have the Victorians become to this trade and it? profits that they have come to regard them as their natural perquisites; and even before the High Court gave its decision deputations of motor carriers and business men had waited on the Victorian Premier pointing out that the enforcement of the New South Wales regulations would "ruin" them, and they ha've threatened to enrry the fight to tho Privy Council rather than surrender. Tt seems rather a curious contention that the Victorians should be allowed, as of right, to compete in New South Wales against our own people without paying the dues and taxes imposed on our own firms and traders. Riverina's Preference. But it should be noted that most people in the Riverina take the Victorian point of view. They are much nearer to Melbourne than to Sydney; they want, above all things, to develop a cheap system of transit to the great southern port, and they are already complaining that the enforcement of the New South Wales regulations will "cut the Riverina off from its natural market." This ia quite in keeping with the "separatist" tendencies in the Riverina, where there is a strong movement ill favour of forming a new State which would be entirely emancipated from Sydney's control. But for the time being New South Wales has scored a notable victory by freeing herself from the unfair competition of a State which, with a longer working week, lower taxes and lower wages, has already made tremendous inroads upon our transport activities in the debatable border land."