NEW TRANSPORT BILL

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 200, 21 May 1936, Page 11

NEW TRANSPORT BILL

Enormous Interests at Stake APPEAL BOARD WANTED ■ Dominion Special Service. j Masterton, May 20. ! The president of the Municipal Asj soeiation of New Zealand, Air. T. ! Jordan, in an interview with “The Dominion” to-day, discussed the new Transport Licensing Amendment Bill, making particular reference to the question of appeals which will be heard by the .Minister of Transport, lion. R. Semple. A conspicuous feature of the Bill, said Air. Jordan, was the provision to make the Aliuister the final tribunal of appeal. “When the Act of 1931 was in course of drafting, the Alunicipal Association strenuously urged that there should bo au api>eal board 6f judicial standing to deal with all appeals,” Air. Jordan said. “The interests at stake were enormous, and it was vital that the public and the interests concerned should have confidence in the tribunal that finally settled their destinies. The ap]>eal board was accordingly set up. Subsequently that board was replaced by another of different name, and that had now been ‘torpedoed.’ If the Alinister proposes to tackle iu earnest the regulation and control of transport, aud it is high time that it was tackled, there is bound to be an abundance of appeals, for there are nearly three thousand licenses in existence t-odav, and the task will be more difficult than it was four years ago, owing to what has happened in the interval. Long Hearings, “Aloreover, in view of the fact that the present Bill proposes to reduce each of the district licensing authorities to a committee of one, the need for an appeal tribunal becomes more urgent if the confidence of the publie aud of the transport industry is to be obtained and held. Appeals in the past have been by way of rehearing, and this involves the hearing of evidence at great length in some cases. I have known cases where 30 witnesses have been called, four counsel engaged, and the hearing lasted nearly three days. If the Alinister is to hear and dispose of all these appeals be will need assistance either in his capacity of appeal tribunal or iu that of Alinister of Public Works and Transport. I omit any consideration of his time spent in travelling to and from the hearing of appeals. Decisions Without Evidence. ‘•lt is true that there is power in this Bill, as there was in the last Amendment Act, to determine the appeals without hearing any one or taking any evidence, but surely it is not contemplated that questions affecting millions of capital shall be dealt with in this way,” Air. Jordan, continued. “There is power iu the Bill, too, for the Alinister to refer questions arising out of appeals to some nominee of his. Would it not be better, iu the interests of everyone, that the appeals should at once be entirely handed over to a judicial body'.' It is a mistake, in my opinion, to have any of the several interests represented on such a body. They become mere advocates of a particular interest, and are really disqualified as judges. The best men available should be chosen and there should be some security of tenure of their office; and their independence should be not the least of their qualifications. The amount of capital involved in transport is enormous and deserves judicial consideration. Aloreover, such a body would serve as a solid buffer between the Minister and .the inside and outside pressure that, is bound to be applied to him. I believe the success of the Minister in this' matter will be measured in the exact terms of his capacity to resist such pressure. "I am sorry to see that there is yet no provision to co-ordinate the whole of transport: by that 1 mean to bring all forms of transport, road, rail, coastal and air, under one control. There was, not long ago (I am not able to say whether it still exists), au extravagant system of transport in the Auckland district, consisting of fourteen daily return services by road and eighteen daily return services by rail serving a rural population stated by the solicitor for the road operators as not exceeding seven thousand souls. This must be nearly a world’s record. The railway in this case at least substantially contributes to the enormous economic waste that is being committed.”