Evening Post. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1937. GUIDING TRANSPORT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 122, 19 November 1937, Page 8

Evening Post. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1937. GUIDING TRANSPORT

In the development of New Zealand transport has been of the greatest importance. From the earliest days settlement advanced as means of transport were improved. First tracks, then roads, and then railways carried the pioneers in and brought their produce out. Then came a change back to the roads, and a period of difficulty when it appeared that transport might even be a handicap on industry. It had been improved and expended beyond the capacity of trade and industry. It is parodoxical ] to suggest that means of conveyance of people and goods, which are essential to civilised progress, may actually check that progress. Yet this is true. If two small townships are connected by a four-track highway and a double track railway with express trains and luxurious .cars competing for business the cost in more than the industry of two districts and the trade between them can bear. Either the transport system must be modified or transport charges must absorb all the profits of industry. New Zealand had not reached this exaggerated degree of development, but it ,was attempting to support a duplicated transport system which would have been justified only by a far more advanced stage of industrialisation.

It was necessary, and it is necessary still, to keep a check upon the provision of means of conveyance. The annual report of the Transport Department shows how this is being done. A vast but necessary organisation has been created to control the use of roads and vehicles, proniote co-ordination with other forms of transport, regulate conditions of service and charges, and collect information upon which a well-ordered transport scheme may be base^l. Not the least important of the Department's functions is the collection of information. We cannot have an orderly system unless we know the facts, The Department's report is full of facts and should be studied carefully by legislators, business men, anil all who are concerned with travel and the carriage of goods. Only a few of the facts can here be quoted to indicate [lie problems that are presented and the progress made in their solution. Two facts, for example, bear upon transport growth. New car registrations last year were 25,796, or a doily average of over 70; while the registrations of commercial vehicles (8999) again exceeded the previous peak year. The estimated annual expenditure on roads, streets, and bridges during 1935-36 amounted to £8,100,000 or £400,000 in excess of the figure for the previous year. This figure does not represent the bill for road transport: It is only the cost of the roads. The total account cannot be calculated, but tables appended to the report show that licensed goods services in 1936-37 had a revenue of £2,679,000 and licensed passenger services (ex--elusive of those licensed by four metropolitan authorities) had a revenue of £1,057,788. Even these figures do not indicate by any means what we are paying for the carriage of people and goods. We must add also the cost of the railways, some part of the cost of harbours used for coastal transport, and the unascertainable cost of private transport. Only the widest guess can be made at the total; but it can be said, we think, that it is great enough to warrant apprehension lest the Dominion should again overload itself with transport facilities. What are the relevant facts now? The Government is providing greater facilities by constructing and improving the railways. At the same time it is, by licensing, Tegulating the use of the roads. The question i must arise: Is the benefit of regula-; tion which tends to eliminate superfluous road transport in danger of being dissipated by the costly provision of new railways? By regulation and now by the purchase of private goods services, the Government lis attempting to bring transport facilities within the capacity of Dominion industry and commerce; but if there is reduction on one side (not without expense) and increase on the other the aim may not be achieved. Another important aspect is the effect of restriction upon costs. Generally, it may be said, a regulated service is better for the public and better for the operators than expansion of services without check; but this creates the need for a careful watch on results. For instance, the report states that operators' accounts are examined and charges reviewed from time to time so that the public may share the benefit of the economy of regulation. Last year licensed passenger services showed a net profit nearly 12 per cent, greater than the total profits for the previous year, and equivalent to a return of 12 per cent, on the total capital invested. To what this is attributable is not stated; but it is a fair assumption that some part of it comes from the restriction on competition. Direct charges are, however, only part of the cost of transport. Earlier we mentioned the estimated road bill of over £8,000,000. This total was made up of: .Loan, £1,134,443; local rates, £2,445,914; unemployment taxation, £1,009,688; general taxation, £1,167,899; motor taxation, £2,320,031. Another table which should be read in conjunction with this shows that in ten years £18,040,664 has been collected in petrol taxation, of which £7,498.490 ha» gene to the Consolidated Fund,

£9,616,223 to the Main Highways Fund, and £925,951 to the local authorities. The State certainly makes a direct contribution to roading, hut it extracts a greater sum from the petrol consumers. The distribution of this petrol taxation certainly calls for revision in two directions: the reduction of the proportion taken by the State for general purposes and the allocation of a greater share to urban local bodies that are at present meeting a great part of roading costs from rates. , ■