BROKEN FLEDGE?

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21697, 26 April 1945, Page 3

BROKEN FLEDGE?

TRANSPORT POLICY MINISTER CRITICISED REVIEW OF LICENSES (P.A.) WELLINGTON. April 26. “Practically every section of the licensed motor transport industry affected will be astonished and incensed by the statement by the Minister of Transport, the Hon. J O'Brien, published on Tuesday as tc his policy decisions to bo applied in the review of licenses," said Mr. H J. Knight, national-secretary of the New Zealand Road Transport Alliance, the New Zealand Carriers' Federation, and the New Zealand Taxi Proprietors’ Federation.

It would be astonished because the statement contained direct negations of the assurances which the Minister had voluntarily given' to representatives of the industry only a few days previously, and it would be incensed with the treatment to- be meted oui to the industry in spite of the really good job the Minister said it had done during the war years. On April 13 last the Minister had given an unqualified assurance that there would be tio. confiscation of license, and that no change in the law regarding the issue of licenses was even contemplated.

“The requirement for an operator to make available a suitable part of hip service for sale to an ex-service-man is nothing less than confiscation applied ir. the smooth technique ol the Nazis;” said Mr. Knight, "and the Minister's statement that absolute priority will be given t.o ex-service-men by all licensing authorities must mean some new law, for it contravenes the existing transport law. as will be observed by the reference to previous appeal authority decisions. Operating High is "The restoration of operating rights voluntarily curtailed by the industry’s control committees for the conservation of fuel, tyres, vehicles and man-power is not possible under the statement of policy and must result in yet another broken pledge. The merger companies formed as a direct result of Government policy, and in some cases, forced on the parties, were promised as a protection against new licenses being granted ill opposi Lion to them.

"Now the Minister commits a fur | ther breach of faith and, without a word of apology or explanation, tells these people they must face some measure of competition. The transport industry is second to none in its wholehearted desire to assist in the rehabilitation of ex-serviccmcn, as is evidenced by its practical proposals and efforts in the last two years, but the policy of confiscation now place: an operator in an invidious position if he opposes it, leaving him to choose between his sense of justice and his feeling for ex-servicemen. “If the announced policy is an example of how rehabilitation is to be effected throughout New Zealand, it can hardly be accomplished in the spirit of co-operation that would seem to be so necessary for such a vital and essential requirement. “Other industries, too, will no doubt be interested in the Government's revealed policy and would be well advised to consider the effect of an extension of this policy to themselves if once it can be forced on the transport industry.”