A ROAD OR A RAILWAY?

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 126, 24 November 1923, Page 23

A ROAD OR A RAILWAY?

• c i Mu"wt«"«f Public Works, who is also the Minister of Railways in New Zealand,, has offered to the people of a district in the North Island their choice 0 a branch railway line or a modern bitumen road. The position is altogether unusual, and had it arisen a tew years ago would have been considered impossible. A Minister who made such an offer would have been thought a fool to think that there could be any choice in such a matter, says "The Had*-' atov. It appears that a former Minister promised to this particular district a branch railway, and the present Minister feels compelled to honour this promise if its fulfilment is insisted on. He himself is satisfied that a good road suitable for modem motor traffic will be of much greater use to the district, and can be produced at much less cost than a railway, and therefore the people are given a choice. What this will be is so far unknown, but we will be surprised if the road is not choßen Complaints are continually being made that rail freights are too high, and the business is being taken by road wherever the conditions are at all favourable The Manager of Railways says rail freights are as low as they can be made if the railways are to pay, and has stat--01 that.the only way to meet the competition by road is to saddle the owners of road vehicles with taxation which will compel their costs ,to go up so that the. railway rates may-be competitive. This argument will not appeal to anybody whose interests are not concentrated in railways, and we are glad to know that the present Minister of Railways realises and is not afraid to state that under some circumstances road traffic is a better proposition for the country than railway traffic. It must always be remembered that motor transport has established itself in New Zealand in spite of adverse conditions of roads,' etc., and that when conditions are made suitable the increase in motor traffic mUygt be tremendous., ' If railways are finding it. difficult to compete with motor traffic under present conditions they will be hopelessly, out of the hunt;. when suitable, roads -are provided and conditions are favourable to allow of running road vehicles to the best advantage. ,

We believe that very few more branch lines will be constructed in New Zealand, and that some of the present lines will have to be scrapped to prevent the drag on the lines'which are likely to "be remunerative.

An American statistician calculates that with an output of 5,000,000 cars annually, the number in use should soon be 35,000,000, and states that no such number of cars can be used'in a country that -has only 21,000,000 dwellings and 25,000,000 families. This is countered by a New York paper with the statement that there is no reason bo expect any limitation to the motor industry in America by reason of a limitation in the number o f dwellings. The advice of the wife of a Boston, banker, given to a newly-married couple some years ago has not been refuted. She said: " You will get more happiness, health, and service out of a motor-car than out of a dwelling. Rent a flat and buy a motorcar.