RAILWAYS AND MOTORS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 236, 5 October 1937, Page 6

RAILWAYS AND MOTORS.

The restrictive regulation of motor passenger and goods services was not begun by the present Government, but since 1935 it has been carried to greater lengths. Not without justification, more heed has been paid to the claims of the Railway Department, which had found its revenues severely affected by motor competition. Now, as the result of farther regulation and the purchase by the Department of a number of privately owned motor services, the railways are in a better position to compete. But, as the transport licensing authority in Christchurch has courageously affirmed, restrictive regulation can be carried too far. He was asked by the representative of the Railway Department to disallow a reduction of the fares charged by a motor passenger service in competition with the railways, but he refused to do so. "I cannot see any sense in nationalising transport," he said, "if the public are not going to get the benefit." The public will applaud his stand. Reductions in the price of goods or services are rare indeed in these days, and when they are economically possible it would be strange if the Government, or a Government agency, prevented them.