UNWARRANTED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 157, 4 July 1940, Page 8

UNWARRANTED.

WONT SAVE PETROL.

ROAD SERVICE STOPPAGE.

AUCKXANI>-RO?£)RtrA RUN.

"Ineffective and unnecessary," wae the comment made to-day by a business man when discussing the instruction given the Railways Department by the Xo. 1 Licensing Authority to discontinue all road services from Auckland to Eotorua. "The service carg could, and should, be kept on this route, because the farmers along the roads, let alone the people of Gisborne, have come to depend upon the service, to an extent not realised by city people," he said.

"To immobilise a large fleet of efficient cars, and throw out of employment a substantial body of drivers and mechanics, would be false economy. The decision has been made, we are told, so that petrol consumption may be further reduced. But it is not essential that the fleet of service cars ■be powered by petrol. It would be a simple matter to convert the necessary units into gas-driven cars. Within a week the cars could be fittted with gas producers, at small expense, and the service could then continue to operate without affecting petrol consumption. It would \>c a economical way of operating the service."

Why Not Gas producer Cars? The buses on the Xapier-Hastinge service had been equipped with "asprodueers, and this mii-Jh-used service was operating efficiently and satisfactorily, he said. There was no reduction in speed. On the Auckland-Gisborne route loads could be adjusted to meet any small reduction in power, and this wari not an important factor. Only the will to continue the service was required, was the business man's opinion, .siiiv.-e gari-driven vehicles were suitable in all respects. It was suspected in some quarters that the decision to discontinue the road service had been made at a time when it was possible to force people to use the rail services, by using the argument that travellers should cooperate in the patriotic duty of conserving oil fuel fiiipplies. However, the possibility of changing over to gasdriven cars, without locs of efficiency, or increased cost, brought the ostensible reason for the decision under suspicion.

It was pointed out that the existing (service by road was most convenient for the producers living along the route. At a time when the demand for increased production va.-. being emphasised, as nn essential part of Xew Zealand's war effort, it was the height of folly to deprive farmers of a means of transport on which they had come to rely. Every farmer utilised the service cars for the carriage of spare parte, urgently necessary to keep their dairying plants iu "full production. Bv ordering on the telephone, these spare parts were dispatched a* urgent parcels, per service cars, and the farmer had his plant back in running order within 24 hour**. To deprive the farmer of this speedy service v/oul I mean a slowing up of production.

Hindering the Farmer. The statement that the abolition of the road service would result in the conservation of petrol was open to question. It was certain that farmers along the route, deprived of their means of transport by service car, would be compelled to use their own motor cars for urgent trips to town, and, in consequence, there would be no genuine saving.

Existing services, whereby passengers for Gisborne could leave Auckland after breakfast and arrive at their destination I that night, were a boon to a town which :had long been isolated. There was no [good reason why Gisborne should be penalised by having to suffer the disadvantages under which it had laboured in the years when the journey was slow land tedious. By cutting out the road services on the Auckland side of Rotoriia it meant that passengers for Gisl>orne would have to stay overnight in Rotorua. thus adding substantially to the cost of Iho journey. This could not 1)O JM-'ificd at a time when everyone wae doing his best to carry a heavy load <>f taxation in the national interest. At present it was a great convenience for jieoplc. who left Auckland by service oar at 2.30, or by the 3 p.m. expresses, to l>o able to continue their journey to Rotorua by road, after half an hour for an evening meal in Hamilton. It was a convenience wliicrh suited thousands of people, who could not epare the whole day necessary to make the journey from Auckland to Rotorua by train. The decision announced earlier week to t«ke the fleet of highly efficient care off the road had nothing to commend it, once it was realised that the service could bo operated cheaply and efficiently by converting the cars to gasdriven units. To lock up the cars meant that a large capital sum would remain idle, earning nothing, and families depending on the operation of the service for their livelihood would be gravely embarraseed.