THE TRANSPORT FACTOR IN COST

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 33, 8 August 1919, Page 6

THE TRANSPORT FACTOR IN COST

x The big part which the cost of transport plays in the cost of living may be illustrated by means of a few figures taken almost at random from the Board of Trade's report on the coal-mining industry. When the Board compiled its figures', 19 per cent, of the retail price of Westport coal in Wellington cony sisted of the cost of carriage from Westport; and 32 per cent, of the retail price of Newcastle £N.S.W.) coal consisted of the cost of carnage from Newcastle. Most of the Board's figures, like the above,, relate to sea-carriage, but there are one or two comparative instances of land-transport. For instance, the freight on Huntly (Waikato) coal to Wellington was 29 per cent, of its retail price fn this city. In 1914 it cost less to bring to Wellington coal from Newcastle than to bring coal from Huntly, the respective freights being 10s and 12s 7d; in 1918 they had beon altered to y 16s 6d and 15s 3d, or Is 3d in favour of the railway.

If it costs nearly as much, and sometimes more, to bring coal from the Waikato as to bring it from Australia, it is not surprising to, hear that " Westport coal constitutes 80 per cent, of the coal consumed in Wellington households." But perhaps Chrintqhuvelt, which Is connected with Lyttelcoti by tunnel, provide!

the most startling example of the cost of land-carriage. The cost of landing Newcastle coal at Lyttelton is ,29 per cent, of the Christchurch retail price. But by the time that coal, has been railed from Lyttelton to ..Christchurch the cost of transport has risen to 39\per cent, of the Christchurch retail price. Concerning the coal industry, the Board of Trade reports that "the. organisation of distribution is generally much more faulty and defective than that of production." Is this not true of many businesses, and, is not improved transport one of the main remedies?