MAXIMUM USE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 17, 20 July 1942, Page 6

MAXIMUM USE

DELIVERY SERVICES

1 ZONES AND BLOCKS

At a meeting of business men at Petone on Saturday afternoon, Mr. 11. M. Christie, who has been appointed by the Government as an organiser of transport and delivery services, spoke of the necessity to obtain from haulage and delivery services maximum possible . use, and indicated what probably lies ahead, with very general application of the principle of block and zone deliveries of many commodities and the ending of cross haulage of similar goods from centre to centre and island to island. New Zealand was today in a state of emergency in transport, said Mr. Christie. There were only sufficient tyres to carry on present heavy traffic for four months, and zoning of transport must *be extended. "As zoning officer," he said, "my job is not to see how much transport can be cut down, but to see how much of the necessary transport can be provided." Mr." Christie said he had to face the situation of asking for a reduction of commercial transport while there were still private cars on the road, but those cars might have to be requisitioned by the Army at short notice and the petrol consumed was only that needed to keep them in.running order, and wear on tyres was therefore light. He had, however, asked that drastic action should be: taken to eliminate waste in the running of private cars for business purposes. LOCAL DELIVERIES. All running of delivery services that could be avoided must be discontinued, said Mr. Christie. Some businesses would undoubtedly suffer, but that was better than a complete breakdown of transport. A number of Wellington business men had got together that morning and had arranged a workable scheme, some making considerable sacrifices to reach agreement. It was proposed to set up committees on zoning' in each district. They would, in the' main, be formed of representatives of the consumers, with some members of the local councils. A member of each trade association would be on the committee, but all trade representatives would not sit together. Only the representative of that trade concerning which problems were being considered would sit at that particular time. He would be an ex-officio member of all district committees and matters of major moment would be referred to him, otherwise the business associations would be asked to handle their own zoning plans. BREAD AND MILK DISTRIBUTION. Retail delivery of bread would be eliminated except in isolated areas, of which the Hutt Valley would probably be one. Milk zoning in the Hutt Valley would not be difficult, as there was no council delivery, Mr. Christie said. In Wellington nearby farmers had tended to work in the most favourable areas, leaving the hilly areas to the council. The demand for pasteurised milk was also a problem. The delivery, of groceries was a big problem. It was difficult today, with trams and buses crowded, for housewives to carry them home. DELIVERIES OF FUEL. "Of all the retail deliveries, that of coal and firewood is the only one tor which tyres have been placed on the essential list," said Mr. Christie. "Other trades will not be supplied with tyres without my recommendation." Many of the businesses had been compelled to, close down, and those which had been able to continue must realise their responsibilities. Some I dealers were getting supplies denied to others because they had always dealt with individual mines. When zoning was instituted something would have to be done to equalise the position. There would have to be "blocking" of deliveries—supplies would have to be delivered in certain areas only on one day in each week—and they would have to be evenly distributed among consumers. "There have been cases." said Mr. Christie, "where people have dealt with the same coal merchant for many shears. The merchant has told them that he cannot deliver any longer. When they #o to another \ merchant they have been told that no more customers can be accepted. That must end." UNNECESSARY TRANSPORT. Delivery zoning would inevitably throw more strain on the railways, already severely tested by traffic for military needs, and steps must be taken to relieve the railways of some of the traffic they now carried. He mentioned the cross-transport of beer, from island to island, as an example. Such transport would have to end. In reply to questions, Mr. Christie said that wholesale deliveries would be dealt with as a separate subject from the retail. There might have to be a change from heavy to light traffic, with some requisitoning of light vehicles, for which tyres were in better supply. Though conditions were difficult, said Mr. Christie, in conclusion, New Zealand was better off than Britain, or Australia, though Britain had worked out an excellent system with what facilities she had available.