Evening Post. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1929. A BALANCE-SHEET WANTED

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 83, 4 October 1929, Page 8

Evening Post. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1929. A BALANCE-SHEET WANTED

Certain facts, such as the relatively great increase of workefs engaged in transport, show that New Zealand is managing its transport business uneconomically, but costs are so widely distributed that we cannot determine what is the full toll made upon industry by this extravagance. It is of the first importance that this should be known in order that appropriate corrective measures may be applied. Railway costs, it has been pointed out previously, are known and can be calculated; but there is not equal information available concerning road-transport expenditure. To supply this information, Mr. Coates instituted the collection of road transport statistics, which have already yielded a mass of valuable facts. It is desirable, however, that the inquiry should be carried further, as the General Manager of Railways proposes, by the preparation of an annual balancesheet of the road operations of' the Dominion. Only by such investigation can the real cost of transport be ascertained. We know at present that there is a certain expenditure from the Consolidated Fund (provided by the general taxpayer) on road construction and maintenance, further charges upon the general community through the rates, and contributions from road-users through the petrol tax, motor licences, tire tax, and heavy vehicle duties. If every penny of this were charged directly to the road-users for road-use they would be amazed at the amount, and would rise in protest. But there is no such direct charge for a considerable part of it. In consequence, there is no protest against extravagance in transport arrangements.

Instead of such a protest there are complaints which help to obscure the real issue. Farmers, city ratepayers, and even members of Parliament, from whom greater analytical capacity might be expected, assert that local authorities and the Government are increasing rate and tax burdens by their extravagance. The fact is overlooked that much of the expenditure is the direct result of duplication of transport provision. Such agitation inevitably leads to further mistakes. One notable example may be cited: when a demand for reduction of heavy vehicle taxes was being made last year some of the supporters of the demand set out the total charges payable by a five-ton lorry. These, including over £100 annually in taxation, were shown to place a heavy initial charge on the lorry operator. It was argued, therefore, that taxation should be reduced. That may have been a correct conclusion; but it was not arrived at by a logical method. The first inquiry should have been whether the tax was a just fee for the use of roads so constructed as to bear heavy- loads. If it was just, then the unprofitableness of heavy vehicle operation would be due to low charges resulting either from excessive competition for business or from an attempt to handle on the roads classes of traffic which could not be so handled economically. Only by thorough inquiry and the preparation of complete bal-ance-sheets can the answer to such questions be obtained.

Full information is essential also if a system of regulation is to be applied to road transport, as the General Manager of Railways urges it should be. The case for such regulation is well set out in the Railways Report. Regulation, it is pointed out, is not new in transport. It has been applied to railway undertakings in the past to safeguard the public interest. It is necessary now! also to safeguard the public interest —not against excessive profit-taking or failure to provide adequate service as formerly, but to lessen the toll made on the public purse by excessive competition leading to wasteful duplication. In instituting a regulative system, full information as to the cost of service and the return is of prime importance. The other essential is the constitution of an administrative body which will determine the course to be pursued- without bias— either in favour of a State-owned railway system or a privately-oper-ated road service running on State roads. Such an administrative body should have representation of all interests—operators and users. Our own opinion is that the greatest measure of success will attend its work if it begins as an advisory body, seeking to do as much as possible by voluntary co-operation, and leaving the application of compulsion to a later stage, when all parties'have become thoroughly acquainted with