ROAD TRANSPORT.

Evening Star, Issue 22816, 26 November 1937, Page 10

ROAD TRANSPORT.

The large deputation which expressed its concern yesterday at the Government’s motor transport policy would have been .more reassured by replies of the Prime Minister and Minister of Transport if earlier Ministerial statements on this question had been less ambiguous or more satisfactory. Mr Semple said that it had never been the intention of the Government to nationalise the transport system. The Government’s thoughts were engaged with those services which were in direct com-

petition with the railways. That is all very well as far as it goes, but the transport interests and also the public would like to know what proportion of the services aro liable to bo so defined. The Prime Minister stated that “ we want to see tho motor serving the railways rather than running the railways and itself to death at the same time. ... So far as was humanly possible tho existing services would bo allowed to remain.” A large number of private services that compete with the railways for distances of over thirty miles have already been marked for acquirement by tho Government, however, whether or not their owners desire to sell. Mr Semple has explained before that the Government has no intention of taking over these services and then ceasing suddenly to operate them, but whether, to the extent that they are continued, they will be operated as well by a State department as they have been by private enterprise is a question on which the public must have grave doubts. It is true that capital to the amount of over seventy millions has been sunk in railways, making a case for their protection, but the statement has also been made that tho total amount of capital invested last year in road services licensed for the transport of goods was nearly two million pounds, and to the extent that these are taken over, the State will have new liabilities to meet. The Government may persuade itsca that socialisation is not the first object of its transport policy, but its faith in Socialism, which the majority of New Zealanders do not share, has never been disguised, and its power to keep that object second in its thoughts l must naturally bo distrusted. Single control, on special routes, may be the easiest way to co-ordination of services, but efficiency does not usually go most naturally with a monopoly.

The gate receipts for People’s Day at the Summer Show on Wednesday amounted to £504 17s (id, compared with £274 7s 6d for the second day last year, when the show was held late in December as a result of the epidemic of infantile paralysis. The total gate receipts for the two days this year amounted to £653 10s, against £297 11s in 1936. Latest additions to the Chinese famine and war relief fund are 10s from Mr G. W. Johnstone and 6s from “ K.R.S.” “ Fortunately, when I was in the butter industry there was no testing required,” said an expert witness in the Police Court to-day in giving evidence in a case in which breaches of regulations relating to the manufacture of butter were alleged. The magistrate (Mr H. W. Bundle) said he thought it was a good thing for the public that testing was required. The national stations at G p.m. today will, broadcast a recorded version of the welcome to the New Zealand cricketers arriving at Wellington by the Awatea. This will occupy about 20 minutes. A Press Association message from Auckland states that 65 undefended divorce petitions and a number of petitions for the restitution of conjugal rights were granted by Mr Justice Ostler and Mr Justice Fair in the Supreme Court yesterday. This is believed to be a record number for one day. - The annual Christmas treat given by the Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association for the children of deceased exservicemen and for the children of exsoldiers in hospital will be held in the grounds of First Church on Saturday, December 11. It is anticipated that there will be about 150 little guests, who wdl be entertained i during the afternoon and presented with Christmas gifts. Sweets and ice creams will also be distributed. Subscriptions by members of the association and donations by friends pay for the treat. “ I am sure I am voicing the opinion of every member when I commend the generosity of Mr Samuel Saltzman to the community,” said Mr J. W. Dove (chairman) at last night’s meeting of the Otago Hospital Board, when Mr Saltzman forwarded a further donation of £275 to cover the cost of the equipment of the Samuel Saltzman Operating Theatre. “ A man of standing and of Queans to benefit humanity, Mr Saltzman has made a very valuable contribution to those who will have to use this department. The only regret I have is that other men of standing and having plenty of this world’s gifts have not followed his example. I hope that they will in the future.” Otago 'opinion as presented to Parliament showed some variation in the House yesterday afternoon, when consideration of the Public Works Service’s votes enabled members to raise the irrigation works question. Mr Bodkin, putting in a strong plea for the prompt commencement of the Maniototo scheme, as the Dunstan Creek scheme was about to be closed down and the Chatto Creek scheme was likely to be completed within six months, said the time had arrived for Maniototo to be taken in hand, as it was the most important Public Works venture in Otago. “ Oh, no,” declared Mr Nordmeyer, who later took the opportunity of correcting what he described as a misstatement by the Central Otago member. Maniototo was certainly not the only major irrigation scheme left in Otago, for there was an area in North Otago in which he and the member for Waitaki were interested. which gave promise of greater possibilities than Maniototo. Ho had the Minister's promise, when the Canterbury investigation was completed and the engineers were available, that the North Otago area would receive attention. .Mr Semple, who was in charge of the .estimates, did not venture to adjudicate between the conflicting members, but he remarked that the trouble about the existing Central Otago schemes was that they were started under the old system of construction, which was so expensive. Today in Canterbury, with mechanisation of the work, the costs were so reduced that water could be supplied to the farmer at the lowest charge in the world, and so quickly was the work done that they would get the water two years sooner than under the old methods of construction.—Parliamentary reporter. Tho Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, announces that a distinctive flag has been authorised for the New Zealand Naval Board in conformity with the precedents established for tho naval hoards of the other dominions. This flag was brought into use ‘ as from Thursday (November 25). The design consists of an Admiralty anchor in gold placed horizontally in the centre of a flag of red and bine, bisected vertically, the red portion being nearest to the staff. This flag is flown in ships only when members of the Naval Board are embarked. —Parliamentary reporter.

The mayoress’s Christmas party for the children of the unemployed will be held in the Town Hall this year on Saturday, December 18, at 2.30. Tickets will bo available at the central relief depot from Monday, November 29, till Friday, December 10, on production of tho Government unemployment (pink) card. Party tickets will be issued for all children between the ages of four and 14 years whose father is either on sustenance or on No. 5 scheme of rationed work, and the usual purchasing order will be issued for children under the age of four years. A letter from the International Rod Cross Committee of Central China, of which Madame Chiang Kai-shek is patron, has been received by the secretary of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce as follows;—“ China is having her hour of travail. To Central China are being evacuated the wounded from three fronts. Daily air raids to the cities of Central China arc causing more casualties among the defenceless civilian population than among soldiers at the front. Hankow is the nerve centre of Central China, and 150 mission hospitals look to us for support which will let them expand to 10 and 20 times their normal capacity. The handful of foreigners, particularly Britons and Americans, left in the interior have taken hold of this Red Cross work, primarily in the interests of humanity. We have here in Hankow an Empire Chamber of Commerce, school, church. Rotary Club, Cosmopolitan Club, and a "It club. The native Press of the entire interior is measuring the sympathy of our country by what our organisations here can do. We have given our all in money, and now we are giving our time and our effort to ask additional aid from home. We ask the representatives of similar organisations in your city to give us their whole-hearted support. We trust that your aid will be generous and immediate. We are approaching the Christmas season. A very small fraction of what will be spent in your community on gifts, merriment, and cheer would bring relief from agony and life itself to many. Help us!” Under the will of the late Mrs Marion Allan, of Dunedin, whose estate has been valued at under £3,500, bequests have been made of £SO to the First Presbyterian Church at Dunedin (for missionary purposes) and £IOO to tho Ross Home. Mrs Allan also left a section at Harbour Cone to be used for providing the nucleus of a fund for the erection of a new Presbyterian Church at Portobello. Mr Justice Kennedy has granted probate in the following estates :—Catherine Simpson, widow, of Dunedin; Stewart Fletcher, solicitor, of Lawrence ; Henry Hobson, painter, of Dunedin ; Jessie Morison Beaton, nurse, of Oamaru; Marion Allan, widow, of Dunedin ; David Renfrew White, retired Professor of Education, Dunedin; Mahala M'Lean, widow, of Dunedin. Letters of administration, have been granted in the estates of Robert Willison Thompson, traveller, of Dunedin; John Storey, labourer, of Eeidston ; Andrew James Goodlet, dairy factory employee, of Woodside. Health returns issued by the Department of Health for the week ended today do not afford any cause for public anxiety. Five cases of tuberculosis have been notified, two in Otago and three in Southland. Six cases of scarlet fever also have been notified, two in Southland and four in Otago. Three of the Otago cases came from one household. It is satisfactory to note that no further cases of infantile paralysis have been reported. A derailment occurred on Waiareka Hill late last night, when a goods train was negotiating the steep grade. Two heavily laden trucks jumped the line and overturned, strewing the track with debris. The train was making very slow progress at the time, the engine slipping frequently, and it is thought that a sudden stoppage caused the trucks to jump the rails. A breakdown gang was despatched immediately from Oamaru, and was engaged throughout the night in clearing the line.—Oamaru correspondent. The City Brigade was called out at 7.53 last evening to 10 Harbour Terrace, -where a fire had broken out in a six-roomed two-storied brick dwelling owned by Miss Swan and occupied by Mr J. A. Hand. A cupboard and a stairway were damaged. The cause of the fire is unknown. A chimney fire in Lynn street occupied the attention of the Roslyn Brigade at 10.55 this morning. A notable display in last evening’s street procession was that of the Otago United Shipwrights’ Society. Mounted on a motor lorry was a large model of the Union Company’s first Monowai. Surmounting the model of that oldtimer was the handsome silk banner emblazoned, with numerous emblems of the shipwright’s trade. On one side of tho banner is a picture of Noah’s Ark. On the other side the sailing ship Dunedin on the stocks is illustrated. It is apparent from inquiries made in Wellington that the amendment to the Finance Bill regarding houses has aroused considerable indignation, the feeling being such that it is possible an indignation meeting will be called to discuss the situation. One estate agent to-day expressed the opinion that the measure was one the average tenant would not have sought, in that under existing legislation he is afforded good protection. Another declared that the restriction placed an undue charge on the owner of a house occupied by tenants and covered by the Fair Rents Act, he being stopped except under certain very restricted circumstances from dealing in that property.—Press Association.

Eye strain—for eye comfort, for better Vision, consult Sturmer and Watson Ltd., opticians,, 2 Octagon. Dunedin—fAdvt.l