TRANSPORT POLICY

Evening Star, Issue 22689, 1 July 1937, Page 15

TRANSPORT POLICY

VIEWS OF THE ROAD ALLIANCE EXPROPRIATION OF GOODS SERVICES Tho following official statement lias been issued by the New Zealand Road Transport Alliance; — No recent move in the direction of Government restriction of private enterprise is more worthy of careful attention by business men and tho public generally than the plans wlncli now appear to be entertained by Cabinet for the expropriation of commercial goods motor services in New Zealand. Accustomed as we. are now becoming to radical Socialist inroads on the field ot private business, few beyond those immediately concerned take much interest in what is going on until they feel the shoo pinching; and by that time, as a rule, it is too late, for effective action. In this insidious fashion Socialist ‘ white anting ” of private business is steadily gong on, and unless business people and the general public wake up, the}' will find their commercial and business liberties filched away and replaced by the bureaucratic control of a socialised Government department, *l s everywhere else, the price of liberty is unceasing vigilance. Effective co-ordination is essential in the transport business, and neither the public nor the industry objects to a reasonable system of licensing to avoid wasteful duplication. The Government, however, has already gone long past this point, and is contemplating further drastic inroads that will completely destroy private initiative in the goods motor industry. Already regulations, introduced not to secure co-ordination, but to afford artificial protection to the railways,. restrict motor competition in areas with 30 miles of open railway linos. This restriction is designed not to promote efficiency and convenience in the transport of goods (in fact, it has the' opposite effect), but to bolster a less convenient service at the expense of a more convenient one. . Now the Government intends to go a step further along the socialising path. The new policy is the compulsory purchase of some 50 odd designated road motor services that At present are in partial competition with thp railways. These services are to bo acquired in an entirely arbitrary manner, the legal authorisation for which is either nonexistent or dubious, and quite irrespective of tho wishes of the owners. As a weapon to force sales, the Government is, without much attempt at concealment, brandishing over tho heads of the firms affected a veiled threat to refuse them licenses if they decline to sell out To call such a transaction a voluntary sale is just a misuse of language. With this weapon in its hands, however, the Government can drive these operators out of business. The 50 services in this first list (already published) are, of course, merely a commencement; many others are later to be forced out, too, until the State has a monopoly on all vital transport routes linking the cities and the country districts.

Nor is this' the end of the story. The Government intends when these public services are State-acquired to declare the highways over which they have been operating “ controlled’’ areas, so making it illegal for any private commercial truck to run for more than 30 miles along any of these roads paralleling the railways without a license, thus effectively completing and protecting the State monopoly. The Government has already taken statutory power to do this, and it surely goes without saying that this power will be very effectively used —as a matter of fact, this is the very reason given, for including it in the recent amending transport legislation. ■lt is obvious that 'ancillary user transport—that is, goods carriage by private firms and individuals on their own account—is gravely endangered by this policy, and may go the same way as the commercial operators.

The outlook for both private and public motor transport of goods in the Dominion is thus very ominous, in view of the socialising policy of tho present Government; and unless those interested wake up and act with energy they will probably find themselves helpless jn the grip of an autocratic Railway Department with a monopoly of internal transport. If, as is almost inevitable, such a condition results in poorer services at higher cost, the general public will pay for the change, and wake up to regret its apathy when it is too late for effective action.