THE CHANGE IN TRANSPORT

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22345, 8 March 1938, Page 14

THE CHANGE IN TRANSPORT

Bus Services on the West Coast GOVERNMENT MONOPOLY IN SOUTH WESTLAND (SPECIALLY WRITTEN FOE THE FftESS.) [By NEVILE BARKER.]

The West Coast embraces a unity greater than that enclosed by provincial boundaries. Only a school holiday signifies Westport's admission of the anniversary of the founding of Nelson. The golden coast is no more than a strip of settlement 250 miles long, insulated from the rest of New Zealand's life by a mountain barrier rising .straight from the sea. With the completion of the Otira tunnel less than 15 years ago, C-'reymouth has only now begun to exercise its pull as the natural centre of the Coast. As time proceeds the Nelson Province south of Murchison may find a greater community of interest with Greymouth and with Christchurch via the Lewis Pass than with its own capital city. Improved houses built in eastern styles, cultivated gardens, even painted roofs, and keener commercial practice bear witness-to a social change which has its roots in the rapid movement of people and goods. The organisation of road transport is of singular interest, for it has fallen into the hands of three large concerns, each with a degree of monopoly over its special area.

higher freights or in irregular service, or by the staff in lower wages. From the worker's point of view conditions have improved immeasurably. Wages are above award rates with double pav for overtime, a fortnight's holiday a year, and full pay for sick leave for whatever cause, with medical expenses paid if illness is a result of work. This is more liberal treatment than that received by any State employees, and in addition, certain small considerations are given which are impossible under State enterprise. Co-ordination has meant the building up of a two-way pay-load traffic. Previous to amalgamation the major flew of land transport ran into Westport, and total demand reached a decided peak during the winter months. By developing new traffic and by offering cheap and regular service, it has been possible more than to balance the heavy inward movement of goods, and to even out the seasonal fluctuation. The larger vehicle. the operation of which is usually beyond the means of small concerns. may therefore be said to create its own traffic; goods now become moveable which were not so before, and the commercial life of a district is stimulated. Much of the traffic, as in heavy, lowvalued freight, barely covers costs. But it is held that the increased spending power resulting from the movement of goods to places where their value is greater pays in the long run, because, by increasing the prosperity of a district, it indirectly increases other sorts of freight purchased by those with increased incomes. Where this philosophy inspires a staff, transport is really doing its job of oiling the wheels of production and increasing consumption to a maximum. A Hokitika Amalgamation

The Westport Merger

The most northerly is situated in Westport. Because it is the oldest and has attained a more mature stature, greater attention will be paid to its methods and results of working than to the others. From Westport this firm, a private company, works three transport lines; north to Karamea, south to Greymouth, inland to Inangahua Junction, serving in all the demand of some 10,000 people. It also operates the only passenger service between Westport and Greymouth, while all through passenger traffic to Nelson is under the control of another single concern. Haphazard running has been replaced in each direction by regular services. The goods service to Inangahua is worked principally under a contract with the Railway Department. Speculation is wasted upon the motives for the great expenditure being ' incurred in slinging a railway around the precipices in the lower Buller Gorge to Join Westport with the main system. They Can only be political for the possibilities of increased traffic are slight. Import by ship has. already been reduced to a minimum. To fight its'way back on to the market against southern, Competition, Westport coal will have a difficult taslc.. Unless, the price is greatly reduced and, defliand increased, an expansion there mUst be set against a' railway loss from Beef - ton or elsewhere. . ' ... ' ; -As no other service runs over these routes save that of the ancillary usen this cphcefn may be .regarded as a controlled monopoly' working under the surveillance of the licensing authority. Two years of operation have given consumers every satisfacr ticn, with rio, desire\;tp return- to cqmi petitive J *••' ' ; .r. ; Because it can avoid overlapping and concentrate loading, the firm has availed itself of specialised equipment. As in all ports of the Dominion, shipping provides Westport with a very irregular service. Recently a boat made port unexpectedly to load timber for Australia. Through careful organisation and the provision of very large trucks, 84,000 super feet were brought to the wharf in two and a half days from distances varying up to 60 miles without any of the regular services being disorganised. Millers agree that this could never have been accomplished under the old system. Because their resources have been greater than those of a single operator, they have been able to pioneer traffic of a nature which may entail initial loss. Until recently there was no sale for bobby calves in the Buller dairying districts. On its own initiative the firm has developed this traffic, and that it cottld, da* so was dependent on the one fact-'that it possessed trucks large enough to operate this low-valued freight without loss. That this extra source of income has proved valuable is readily volunteered by farmers of the district. After only six weeks' operation freight rates were reduced by 10s a ton. The scale of operations is such as permits the employment of special mechanic on night shift so that ers are freed from worry over mechanical adjustments, and which ensures that the vehicles are always, in fighting trim. Under competitive ownership breakdowns were frequent Although vehicles may pasg their 1 police tests, unless they are working at full efficiency, wastage occurs which must be paid for either by clients m

South of the Buller is the Grey County, in which a second amalgamation has taken place. This is the youngest of the three under consideration, and has only been in operation for six months. It is neither possible, therefore, to review its operations nor necessary, for it is linked to the Westport merger, and is gradually adopting their methods.

Interest in this merger must chiefly be focused on the peculiar problems it has to meet. Its principal traffic lies in the cartage of mining machinery and other heavy equipment over a fairly wide area. Its general goods traffic is light, and this is so because, although operating in the southern part of the Grey County, it is not permitted, to enter the county's capital, Greymouth. -.The reason for this anomaly is /the -desire to protect from competition the railways running into Greymouth. The company has just started one regular service up the Kokatjhi Valley, and without any doubt would have pioneered another -through Kumara and Ngahere into Greymouth. But because of the law as it is written spells protection for railway capital, the needs of this sparsely- • populated region" cannot be met as ■they should be by motor transport, and Greymouth, the rfatural trading centre' of the region, is robbed of the advantages of its position. Railway protection is especially unsatisfactory in this case, for there appears to ba a definite shortage of waggons. The simple effect of this transport perversion is that goods are.not being moved as they ought to be, and the commercial life of the region is being slowed down. South Westland Working also from Hokitika, but into South Westland is the third amalgamati6n, which is particularly interesting for the fact that it is a Government monopoly, owned and operated by the Road Services Department of the New Zealand Railways. This service has been in operation for about 13 months, runs a bi-weekly service from Hokitika, and brings timber, the largest item of its freight, up to Ross each day. The traffic shows a marked seasonal lift in the summer months, more especially in the tourist season, for the department handles all the passenger as well as goods traffic. Business has expanded since the services were amalgamated, partly as a result of Public Works Department activity, and there are now 18 trucks in place of seven, although there are only 12 vehicle licences, which debars more than 12 vehicles -from being on the road at once.

Although a definitely inferior service was given at first, a marked improvement has since taken place, until the department is now in a position to reap the advantages of large-scale operation. This success is a tribute to the adaptability of its chiefs, former railway servants, and to the fact that much greater freedom from headquarters is given to this service than is usual in State departments. To operate motor transport successfully within the framework of a large department, imbued with the traditions and practices of an alien form of transport, will always prove difficult. Rail transport and road transport are fundamentally different. The recognised function of railways is to transport goods betwden designated points; but motor transport, if It is to yield all its economies, must pick up and deliver an endless variety of goods under various conditions anywhere within wide and undefined areas. This difficulty has not yet been overcome in South Westland. In the published statement ok. accounts the balance-sheets for goods and passenger services are combined, with the result that it is impossible to discover what the position is for each separately. The suspicion is that the freight service is losing mccey. and if this is so, it is the only one of the three amalgamations which is. State services are seemingly always under obligation to carry heavy overheads, obey departmental as well as general regulations to the letter, and generally be less flexible than private concerns. Moreover, employees are prone to regard themselves rather as cogs in a great machine than as units in a living organisation, the entire operations of which are carried on under their eyes. No principal can accept responsibility for these things

A New. Railway?

South Westland has recently asked fcr the rail-head to be moved south from Ross to Wataroa. A departmental inquiry has been made into its prospec is, but the report has not yet been made public. Until the divergence between the sawmillers' estimates ot the province's timber resources and those of the Forestry Department and Mr Langstone are explained, no fanconclusion can be drawn. The timper traffic will, however, be a declining one, and will not prove lucrative to the railways. Timber from the Coast is sold chiefly in Canterbury and Otago, so that the extra 50 miles the line would involve would return but a few extra pence a 100 feet, for th 3 rates taper as the distance increases. Barely 2000 persons live in Soutn Westland, and cut-out rimu country further north has not itself into good farming land. Controlling transport, a vast estate of Crown lands, forestry reserves, and the tourist traffic, the Government has the future of South Westland in its grip. The danger is that political unwisdom, if not" departmental formalities, will exsrt the pressure. (To be Continued.)