FREIGHT TRANSPORT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 59, 7 September 1937, Page 4

FREIGHT TRANSPORT

GOVERNMENT'S POLICY

CO-ORDINATING SERVICES

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

WANGANUI, This Day.

That the Government did not intend to buy out long-distance freight Uansport services and then arbitrarily close them was the information conveyed to the Wanganui Chamber of Commerce tonight in a letter from the Acting Minister of Transport (the Hon. H. G. R. Mason). l The Minister's letter was in reply to a resolution recently forwarded to the Government by the chamber's imports and shipping committee. "Your fears appear to be based on a misunderstanding as to the Government's policy," stated the letter. "It must not be ; assumed that the Government proposes to ( buy out long-distance road services and arbitrarily ' cease operating them. If this were done it would certainly give rise to justifiable complaints from many individuals and businesses receiving the benefits of the mobile and flexible service offered by modern motor transport. The Government has no intention of doing this, which would be tantamount to turning back the wheels of progress. On the contrary, -; the fundamental basis of the transport policy is to bring within the. reach of all the most efficient and cheapest form of transport that science and industry have placed at our disposal. The Railway Department will continue to operate road services that are taken over, and co-ordination will be brought about gradually after a careful survey of traffic in each area and in full co- : operation with users -of the services.

I THE DECIDING FACTOR. 1 "After all, the public demarid-'m'iist be the/deciding factor. . The; sijigle 'ownership policy applies only to longdistance routes, where careful investigation has shown that there is scope for co-ordinating road and rail services so tliat,each;is developed in its sphere of maximum economic usefulness.. This means that road and rail services must be complementary rather than competitive. While the long-dis-tance road services are organised in small, independent units, co-ordina-tion of,rail and road transport is almost an impossibility and a wasteful duplication of services,' which must •be reflected in higher costs to the community, is inevitable." . The chamber decided to refer the letter to the' Associated: Chambers of 'Commerce., ■'."!'.: '.;. '-:.-'. ':