GOODS SERVICES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4871, 16 July 1936, Page 5

GOODS SERVICES

TARANAKI OWNERS ALARMED.

EFFECT OF LEGISLATION

ROAD TRANSPORT TO CEASE,

Owners or' road goods services in Taranaki are alarmed at the prospective results of the Government's draft regulations for goods services, and fear not only a disastrous effect on their businesses, but also considerable losses on their assets.

It is anticipated that services from Taranaki towns to Auckland and Wellington, and to intermediate points over 30 miles distant, will cease, and the vehicles specially built for these long distances will become useless. The clause to which operators take exception states: "If there is an available route for the carriage of goods which includes at least 30 miles of open Government railway, the goods shall be carried by road only so far as is necessary to permit their carriage by railway, unless the total distance of carriage by road and railway would be greater by more than one-third than the shortest road route available." "As far as one can tell," said one operator, "this cause means that henceforth it will be virtually impossible to consign any manner of goods from New Plymouth to Hawera, or vice versa, by road transport. They may be carried as far as Stratford, but there they must join the rail. As far as I can see, the application of this regulation will simply mean that most of the established motor goods services will be unable to carry on." In cases where special licenses are given to carry perishable goods, or goods of such a nature that delivery at the earliest possible moment is essential, the distribution costs, it is stated, would rise prohibitively, because the contractors would not be permitted to carry a return load of another nature.