TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume 137, Issue CXI, 10 June 1926, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Motor-bus regulations came into operation to-day, and the Wellington City Council, the licensing authority 'for the city and suburban area, is quite unprepared to carry out its duties. This is not a new experience. People who have had business with tho Council have come to accept it as a matter of course that the Council is never ready with prepared' plans and organisation. We know that* the Corporation has notified bus proprietors that they must apply for licenses, and one company has been advised that the Finance Committee will recommend the issue of licenses. The decision was apparently made yesterday afternoon. Surely such hasty methods aro not calculated to increase respect for the regulations or for the licensing authority. A great deal has been made of the necessity for creating an authority with power to decide what routes shall be followed, what faros charged, and all other questions which affect competition. Has the Wellington licensing authority given attention to any of these points, or has it delayed its preparations so long that its licensing system is slipshod and farcical?

"You are living on your reputation," the Colac (Victoria) dairy farmers were told by the Chief Inspector of tho Department of Agriculture; Dr. W. A. N. Robertson. Colac, he added, had ceased to be the loading dairying district of the State, but it could again attain to that position, by better farming. At present tho centre of the industry was Mirboo, in Gippsland, where there was tho leading herd-testing association in the State, and where dairymen were obtaining tho best returns. The Chief Inspector told this backsliding Colac district that tho keynote was more production, at less cost, by using better methods; they might get an increased price for their product, but a higher cost of labour would follow an increase in tho cost of living, and the circle would be continued. Are there any Colacs in Now Zealand?

Australian coastal shipping companies are complaining of lack of profits. They blame labour troubles. Whatever the cause, it seems to be a fact that these companies have for some time made little or no profit out of .shipping. According to the Australian Press, this is not merely a happening of one year or two; "the Australian Steamships Proprietary Company, for instance, has earned no profits during the last throe years. " How, then, are shareholders receiving dividends? If thoy are receiving any, those dividends come out of investments (the result of shipping profits years ago) in other enterprises than shipping. A favourite form of investment for shipping companies has been coal-mining companies but, from the labour trouble point of view, that is Like passing from the fry-ing-pan to the fire. It is all very well to say: "Let the shipping companies be content with collateral investments, ana let them go on providing shipping transport without profit." If the noprofit principle is good in the direct field, is it not good in the collateral' field? In any case, a continuanco of no-profit in the direct field fo;r any long period would drive capital into the collateral field, until scarcity of service in the former restored the lost profit.

It is evident that the Wellington North Ratepayers' Association is not prepared to accept tho Council's decision in favour of a tramway deviation through Hill street. There aro weighty reasons for continued opposition. The Council confirmed its decision by a majority of one when several members were absent. It had not then, nor has it had before it at any recent time, a comprehensive report upon the question of road and rail access to the western suburbs. How, then, is it able to say that this proposal will meet the needs of the future satisfactorily? Is it not highly probable that after a long or short trial the Hill street route will be found inadequate, and that a motor road will then be constructed upon a better line! If this is done the Hill street tramway will at once lose much of its value. It will be unable to compete with motor traffic on the better route. Then the Corporation will bo compelled either to cut its loss or to maintain an unpayable line by prohibiting motor competition.