TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 111, 12 May 1937, Page 9

TRANSPORT SYSTEM

MINISTER'S POLICY

NATIONAL PARTY'S REPLY

THE PRIVATE OWNER

"In the long, rambling reply made by the Minister of Transport (the Hon. H. Semple) to the statement emanating from the National Party Executive thai he, as Minister, was about to confiscate the private transport businesses of those who served beyond the 30 miles limit from the railway, the Minister has abused but has not made any attempt at meeting the position," says a statement issued by the National Party. "His diatribe of an alleged state of confusion in the ranks of the National Party is merely a state of mind akin to the wish being father to the thought. "So far as that irrelevant matter is concerned no one knows better than the Minister of Transport that the ranks of the National Party are being added to every day, and similarly, there are as many defections from the ranks of his Socialist Party. If he has any doubts about this it is recommended that he read the recent leaders of the official organ of the Labour Party, the 'Standard,' where there is clear evidence of alarm from their point of view. "With that cheap blatancy that is not unusual in replies by the Minister under discussion, he has charged the National Party with misleading and almost hysterical statements. He added, too, that we had made noise at the expense of truth. How noise can be contrasted with statements, false or true, we leave to him to decide. What he has not done, however, is to show the interested public how the statement is untrue. "What the Minister has not said is what he means by a fair compensation for displaced owners of private goods services. He implies that the compensation is to cover all loss. What, however, he has not said is that the General Manager of the Railways, who ■is charged with the task of assessing the compensation for the appropriation of these private (concerns, has circulated many of these unfortunate 1 beings and , demanded to know the value of their vehicles! Not a word of what they assess their goodwill at! Not a word of what their other plant and equipment are worth! Not a word of what their garages are worth! Not a word of what is to be done for the owners now that they have their motor-lorries confiscated; owners who have already set up their homes in the districts and are bringing up their families. They will, perhaps, be relieved to know that they can apply to the placement officer for a new job! PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION. "It is all very well for the Minister arrogantly to state that fair compensation will be paid. Who is to be the judge of a fair price? Does that price include payment for their homes which, with no business to sustain them, will have to be sold and no doubt at a loss? "Let us take a typical case not so very far from Wellington. There is a man who for many years -worked hard to build up a transport business. At first it was really hard work, long hours, bad roads, and not very satisfactory motor-cars. There was opposition, too, good clean opposition, and it is still- there. It made the service efficient, for otherwise it could not have lasted. At last, after some years' hard ground,work, the just reward for industry was earned and the business paid. New lorries were bought, and four or five men were employed to drive them. The owner married, and bought his house in the district. His family arrived and everything bade fair for the. future. So well did his business fare that he built a large garage costing several hundred pounds. Two of the men he employed as drivers were married and settled down in the district and acquired their own homes. Tpday that owner pays a substantial income tax, petrol tax, heavy traffic fees, tyre tax, sales tax, and wages tax, and is able to do so after having worked for years and patiently built up a business creditable to himself and satisfactory to the many customers in the country and the city of Wellington. "He received a letter from the General Manager of Railways advising him that he had been informed'that his (the owner's) licence was renewed to May 31, 1937, to enable him to negotiate with the Railways Department for the sale to it of the 'vehicles used by you in the service.' There is no mention of the other items, which, if the Minister is to be believed, it is essential to take into account if a fair price is to be paid in compensation. It is the purest sophistry to imply that a fair price is to be paid. The country could hardly pay it. In many of the affected cases the owners will have to leave the district and look for other jobs. They will be unable to keep up their payments to hold on to their homes. "So much for that part of the Minister's statement. "It is a pity the Minister did not deign to be more explicit about the National Government's having put uperators off without compensation. How many such cases were there? The Minister did not say that there were two boards which reviewed the position of transport under the National Government, or that both boards were free from political control. In the present Government the Minister is the sole and final judge of the matter. The Transport Co-ordination Board dealt equitably with any cases referred to it, as the Minister well knows. He also knows that- the transport industry and their customers would infinitely prefer being under the influence of the 'National Government's system of transport co-ordina-tion to the present system of socialisation of the industry. "The Prime Minister once stated that no major alterations in the transport system would be carried out without first taking the opinon of the industry itself. So far neither the Prime Minister nor the Minister of Transport has asked for that opinion. It has been only when the industry has sought out the Minister to seek redress, or to avoid the confiscation of part of the private transport system, that the Minister has heard their view. "In one article it is impossible to deal with the grave injustice that will necessarily be done to owners and workers in the industry. The Minister says that the workers shall not suffer. Is the worker supposed to be grateful for that? The worker wants to be left alone, not told that he won't suffer. "If the Minister thinks that the National Party is in a state of confusion due to his party's victory at the election, may we suggest- to -him, if that were true as it is not, the best way to fill up our serried ranks is for him to go on destroying private businesses, throwing employers and workers out of work and incidentally breaking up homes. If the National-Party were not concerned for the general good it could look with equanimity at the ruthless confiscation of the private business by the Minister of Transport." Hj special arrangement Keuter'a world service, in addition to other special sources of information, Is used In the compilation of the overseas Intelligence published in this Issue, nnd ail rights therein In Australia and New Zealand are reserved. The international cable news appearing In this issue is published by arrangement with the Australian Press Association and tba "Sun," ,"BeraM" Mows Office, limited.