ROAD AND RAIL
GOVERNMENT’S INQUIRIES. MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT. In his annual statement on the operations of tho State railways, presented to Parliament last session, tho Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, suggested the formation of a ministry of transport to inititate an intelligent amalgamation of transport interests wihch will make it possible to give continuous reliable service and cheaper freights. The real reason behind the suggestion seemed to be the growing competition the railways are suffering from road transport. Mr. Coates pointed out that as the railway system represented capital investment approaching £60,000,000 and commitments in the vicinity of £15,000,000, a great responsibility rested with the Government in relation to the future of the country’s transport services. It is now learned that the Government departments concerned are actively engaged in gathering information concerning the various phases of transport. A great deal of valuable data has been obtained and interesting comparisons will be possible between the costs of the rival services, road and rail. Mr. Coates stated last week, however, that these preliminary inquiries were by no means complete yet and that a further announcement would not be likely for some time. The Government, it is stated, visualises the time when a definite demarkation will be possible between the classes of goods which may more conveniently or more economically be carried by either roads or railways, and when such cut-throat competition which sometimes takes place to-day will be done away with.
The opinion .is held in some quarters that the Government’s attitude should be closely watched in order to guard against the possibility of further monopolies being set up. A number of private firms have been approached in the Government’s quest for information and some of them concerned in motor transport have been doubtful about giving away business data which might be useful to the railways. 'Mr. Coates has given his assurance that any information obtained in this way will not be used in competition against private enterprise. —
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Bibliographic details
Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 46, 6 February 1928, Page 5
Word Count
329ROAD AND RAIL Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 46, 6 February 1928, Page 5
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