ROAD VERSUS RAIL.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17922, 16 November 1923, Page 5

ROAD VERSUS RAIL.

A further development of the policy which will eventually produce good highways iu the Dominion is the setting up of District Highways Councils to cooperate with the National Highway Board in carrying out the provisions of the special statute, states a Wellington writer. It is significant and satisfactory that the present Minister of Public "Works, who is also Minister for Railways, realises that good roads may bo more important than railways for some districts, and that he is quite prepared to close down some of the more unpromising branch railway speculations of the political past rather than to keep on losing money by running alongside the more convenient highway. New Zealand has invested well over thirty millions in its railways, and they are indispensable to its development, yet too much has been spent in the past on small branch lines, nineteen of which cannot pay interest on their capital expenditure,' and some not even the bare working expenses. The old policy has been abandoned. Roads will come first in many areas, and the motor traffic will be obliged to bear its proper share of maintenance. Then the competition of the motor lorry, which" is so terrifying to the management of the New Zealand Railways, will be lessened, and the public will have a choice of the most efficient and economical method of transport, whether it be by rail or road. The long-promised Motor Bill has not yet made its appearance, but it is understood that motorists have practically made up their minds on the question of the basis of taxation, and next session should see the national highway policy placed on a sound financial footing. There should tie no bnore delay. Even now, the National Highway Board has a good deal of preliminary work to get through, and it Bhould be in a position when Parliament meets, to show that its plans are well laid, and that it only needs the nerve-power of finance to start the important task of making the main arteries of New Zealand passable for fast traffic in. all seasons.