N.Z. TRANSPORT

Grey River Argus, 2 August 1940, Page 9

N.Z. TRANSPORT

.. — - .. WIDE RE-ORGANISATION Mr Semple’s Plan [Per Press Association ] WELLINGTON, August 1The future policy in connection with public road freight transport in the Dominion was dealt with in a statement by the Minister of Transport (Hon. R. Semple) to-day. The Minister emphasises the need 1 for conserving every gallon oi petrol, because of the uncertainty of future supplies. The Government’s’ policy was to have goods carried by the railways, in preference to motortrucks, where this could be clone without seriously interfering with national production. As already announced, steps had been taken to eliminate wasteful competition witn the railways over distances in excess of 30 miles, and steps were also being taken to eliminate wasteful duplication and overlapping among prl-vately-owned trucks. The owners of many of these trucks had co-operated by zoning and adjusting their delivery services, and substantial savings in petrol had been made. The Government now asked that public carriers should reorganise themselves to overcome the obvious disadvantages of many small independent units. In order that a general policy of large-scale operation, may be developed, the Government suggested th e zoning of operations, the formation of central depots, and the formation of merger companies. In connection with mergers, it might be found undesirable in some cases to embrace the whole of the earners m any given area in one single company, but satisfactory results might be obtained by mergers of specialised operators, such as shingle and gravecarriers. .