TRANSPORT POLICY

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 202, 23 May 1936, Page 10

TRANSPORT POLICY

Previous Governments Attacked WASTE ALLEGED Mr. Semple Criticises Mr. Coates A vigorous attack on the policy of previous Governments with regard to rail and road transport was a feature of (he reply by the Minister of Transport, Hott. R. Semple, Io the second reading debate on the Transport Licensing Amendment Bill in ire House of Reprcseiil'alives yesterday. A division resulted in the second reading being carried by 50 votes to 10. The Minister claimed that during the debate Hie arguments of lite Opposition had been superficial and had not touched the kernel of the subject. Tee Government's aim was a better I’oun of control and co-ordination of the transport system by road, rail or air. Tbe Opposition bad argued against the Minister being the final appeal authority It had been said that lie himself would be "led by the uose\’ by the Minister of Railways. He was not likely to be led by the no<e by Lite Minister of Railways or anyone else. "In Great Britain there are over 45,000 passenger vehicles under the control of tbe Minister,” Mr. Setup e said. "In New Zealand we have Jl OO passenger vehicles attd 3000 goods vehicles. Surely the Minister can measure up here. Lack of control tn tbe past Ims placed New Zealand transport into its present tangle.’ Mr. J. Hargest t Opposition, Awarua) : Will not tile Minister admit that the Government in lite past lias, exercised control through its boards? Mr. Semple: We will give you some of that later. You talk aboucontrol when motor traffic is killing 305 people d The jit. Hon. .1. G. Coates (Opposition. Kaipara): This Bill is not concerned with (hat. “tn 1027 Mr. Coates said quite clearly and definitely that transport control should bo placed under a properlyeonst'ituted Ministry of Transport,.’ Mr. Semple continued. “In 1036 lie is opposed to it lock, stock and barrel. What a political jack-in-the-box! What a somersault! Jt is a good thing there is a Parliamentary record for Hie ab-sent-minded beggar. The member for Kaipara appointed a board with unfettered powers to control transport, and now he is opposed to his own principles. He had a narrow escape himself at the Just election, but if they did not get him with I'hc first barrel they will get him with the second next time.'’ Purchase of Road Services. The Minister referred to negotiations that had taken place for the purchase of road services by bhe State when Mr. Coates was in power. "There were services on the Hutt Road,” he said, “and the right lion. member instructed the department to give the vendors their own price. Negotiations were proceeding when that, instruction came, and (lien the country had to pay out £54,500. Now the member for Kaipara warns this Government to be caieful and businesslike.” Mr. Coates: Make a charge.

Mr. Semple: 1 am making a charge that on the right lion, member’s instructions £54,500 was spent, on buying a lot of junk. He says that he is Hie careful, capable and dignified businessman and that we are a lot of mugs. Under Air. Coates’s instructions, too, Mr. Semple continued, Hie NapierHastings service had been purchased at far more t-lian it was worth. That was the man who presumed to gi'.T advice. The Government welcomed ad vice, but when it was mingled with the destructive cry of wreck and ruin it was time the searchlight was out on the person who gave the advice. In face of all that, he himself was being called a dictator, a Hitler, a Mussolini and a synthetic Caesar. It was a pity Caesar had not arrived some years ago.

Air. AA’. J. Poison (Opposition, Strut ford) : He is here now. Better la’e than never. “The Palmerston North deviation was started at an estimated cost '-'f £410,000/’ tlie Alinister said. "’They spent £256,000 on ib ami then decided that it ought nob to go on. The Roto rua-Taupo railway was planned to co-t £700.000. About £37,000 was spent on it before the work was stopped. Everyone knew that the line stood no possible chance of even paying Hie cost of axle grease. And then there was the Kirikopuni balloon loop. Tlie estimated cost was £25,000, and to date £150,000 has been spent on it." Air, Coates: £150,000? Don't talk nonsense.

Mr. Semple: That is the figure supplied to me. In the process of putting

the balloon loop in, ‘ the right hon. gentleman almost looped the loop himself. Tim Minister also mentioned work o| , the Middleton railway yards near Christchurch. The work cost £127,000 ami was not worth twopence. Mr. Coates: Pure, unadulterated imagination. Mr. Semple: Tens of thousands of pounds have been wilfully and criminally wasted. Mr. Speaker: Order. That suggests a very serious charge and Hie Minister must withdraw. Mr Semple agreed to withdraw and said that Mr. Coates had been scaremongering in the House by trying to create Hie impression that Hie country was absolutely under Hie control of Hie Government and on Hie verge of ruin. opposition members: So it is. “The ptililie is not absent-minded,” Mr. Semple said. "It. remembers the elmnces the right hon. gentleman had in the past and it has Hie history of Ids failures right through the years in which lie held office. ’ The Opposition called for a division on Hie second reading which resulted as follows: — i'or the Bill (50) : Anderton McMillan Armstrong Marlin Barnes Mason Barrell Meaelien U. 11. Burnell Moticur Campbell Munro Carr Nash Christie Neilson Coleman Nurdnieyer Coulter 11 Brien Cullen Parry Den Im m Petrie Fraser Richards Herring Roberts Hodgens Robertson Howard Savage Hultquist Schramm Hunter Semple Jones Sexton Jordan Sullivan Lungstone Thorn j.owrv Tirikatene Lyon' Webb McCombs M illianis McDougall Wilson Against the Bill (lt>) : Broadfoot Henarc T. D. Burnett Holland Coates Ngala Cd,be Polson Enilean R°. v Forbes Sl » itl . l Hamilton Wilkinson Hargest Wright. Reply By Mr. Coates. Later, when the Bill was in the committee stage, the Minister of Transport was taken to task by Mr. Coates regarding statements made by Mr. Semple about the construction of the Kirikopunui balloon loop and the marshalling yards at Middleton, near Christchurch. •*lt is absolutely incorrect for the Minister to say that the balloon loop cost £150,000,” said Mr. Coates. "In fact, it is as incorrect a statement as a man can make. Then Hie Minister has made some remarks about the Middleton yards, which he described as not being worth twopence. But let him look at the records of the Railway Department and the views of the Fay-Raven Commission. Tbe Minister says that be secured his report from his own department. But how could lie when his department did not do a bit of work on the Middleton yards? The Railway Department did that '' Mr. Coates claimed that Hie Bill would be known as a railway-grabbing Bill. That was all that it amounted to. for the Minister of Railways and not the Minister of Transport was going to be the sole judge and jury to tell the poor road-transport operator what he was to be paid for his service. Mr. Coates said he doubted whether the public or the operators would lie satisfied with any arrangement, in which tbe Minister of Railways had the tinal say. By a gradual process of strangulation it would be possible-for the Minister of Railways, with his final say, to push those men off the road. COMMITTEE STAGE Useful Services To Be Protected An assurance that the Government had no intention whatever of strangling private enterprise iu transport through the operation of Hie Transport Licensing Amendment Bill was given by the .Minister of Transport when the Bill was considered in committee. "It has been said during the debate that I decried private enterprise, but I have been entirely misunderstood,” the Minister stated in replying to points that had been raised. "We are. not going to strangle private enterprise, and have never had any intention of doing that. AR that we are going to do is to co-ordinate those private services so that they will tit in with the national services of the country. We wilt go along those Hues' as far as it is possible.” Mr. Semple denied that appointments to new positions created uniter the Bill would be made solely from the Public Service. He admitted that tbe appointees wottid in the strict sense of the word become public servants, but the Government was not bound to select them from Hie service. He would not say that if there were qualified men in the service t hey would not be appointed. Above all. lie was anxious to get men of Hie right type—men witli knowledge of transport ami of Hie law of evidence, with strong characters mid with the ability to make decisions mid stand by I hem. Road and Rail. "There is no intention of eliminating peopie who are providing useful and necessary services," said Hie Minister of Railways. Hon. D. G. Sullivan. There existed, he added, a very urgent need for transport co-ordination and that was what the Minister of Transport was seeking to obtain. The Bill was not for Hie purpose of getting rid of people. Tlie Lender of Hie Opposition. Rt. Hou. G. W' Forbes, said he knew it was the desire of the Railways Department to put all competition off tbe road, and Mr. Sullivan as Minister of Railways would have to restrict his department. Mr. S. G. Smith (Opposition. New Plymouth) said that Taranaki people who hail traded witli the King Country could not do so now because of the war between the railways and the road operators. The Railways Department had tried to run these operators off the road by unfair charges. The Minister was taking power under the Bill to squeeze mil Hie road operators. "Pressure will come from the Railways Department to tlie Minister of Railways, mid from him to the Minister of Transport to review service licenses,” said Mr. Smith "Under this Bill the Minister can buy one of the services operating between Auckland and Hamilton and then use his power to put Hie others off the road.” Mr. A. C. Barrell (Government, tlmnillon): About lime, too.

Opposition members: Oh! Mr. W. J. Polson (Opposition, lilratford ) : Now wo know. The- Minister agreed to accept an

amendment to Clause 9 of the Bill moved by the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates (Opposition, Kaipara), with the object of ensuring that reliable and certified evidence should be placed before the Minister when appeals were being made. Mr. Coates said that when the Minister came to make decisions on appeals he should not use evidence from the district authorities that, was not certified to be accurate. “If we make it mandatory for evidence to be taken on oath and a true record kept, I think that should meet Hie position,” said the Minister. “I am prepared to discuss the matter witli tlie rt. hon. gentleman and Hie Law Draftsman and see if we can agree on an amendment to be inserted in the Legislative Council.” Air. Coates withdrew his amendment. There was no discussion on Clause 10, which abolishes the Transport Coordination Board, but members of the Opposition called for a division. The clause was carried by 50 to 15.

A suggestion was made by Air. 11. S. S. Kyle (Opposition. Riccarton), when Clause 11 was under discussion, that all recommendations made to the Minister by tlie district licensing authorities should be published in tlie annual report presented to Parliament by the Transport Department. Air. Kyle moved an amendment in that, direction. “That would be an unnecessary and costly proceeding," said the Alinister. "All the data concerned will be available to anyone interested.” “Ou Hie grounds of the great cost involved. I must rule the amendment, out of order.” said the Chairman of Committees, Air. E. J. Howard. Appeal Authority. An amendment to Clause 12, moved by Air. AV. P. Endean (Opposition, Parnell), with the object of providing for an appeal authority of three persons, was lost by 50 votes to 15. A further amendment was moved by Mr. Polson to constitute tbe whole of the district licensing authorities au authority to decide appeals against Hie decisions of any one of them. This was lost on the voices.

Introducing an amendment to exclude shipowners from those having the right of appeal against the decisions of licensing authorities, the Minister said he was acting on the unanimous request of the transport interests. They had pointed out that the clause gave shipowners the right of appeal against land services, whereas owners of land services were not granted the same right with regard to shipping. The amendment was carried. Mr. Coates questioned a section of Clause 12 which provides that appeals upon which decision by the Co-ordina-tion Board has not been delivered before the passing of the Bill shall bo decided by the Minister. Mr. Semple explained, however, that the section applied only to certain appeals which had been held up and had consequently not been dealt with by tlie board. Only a few appeals were affected. The clause was passed on the voices. The intention of the Government to bring the Auckland Transport Board within (lie provisions of the Bill was announced by tlie Minister, who introduced tlie necessary amendment. Mr. Semple assured tlie House that in dealing with transport lie would not be influenced by tlie Minister of Rail ways. "It has been said that the Minister'of Transport will automatically become subservient to I lie Minister of Railways.” he said. “Need I say that If J ani asked to do something that is (n conflict with my policy or something that will jeopardise the public, no Minister of Railways in tlie person of Mr. Sullivan or of anyone else will lead me into it.” 'Phe clause willed gives protection to the Railways Department '.there it acquires passenger services was retained in the Bill by 111 voles to Hi. 'Pho committee stage w.-i.s completed al, 3.45 P-m.. and (lie House adjourned 1 until Tuesday.