HEAVY TRAFFIC

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2124, 16 May 1922, Page 4

HEAVY TRAFFIC

The Horowhenua County Council has been compelled, for its own protection, to prohibit heavy traffic on its roads during the winter months. It is not, as some people may imagine, acting in collusion with the Railway Department. The latter, by its unbusinesslike methods, has driven traffic from the railways on to the roads, and the County Council ratepayers object to paying the penalty of official mismanagement. That is the sum and substance of the whole thing. But tho effect of the prohibition imposed by the Horowhenua County Council will be to compel tradesmen and consumers in the country either to restrict their purchases or to pay the excessive charges made by the Railway Department. In all probability large purchases will be made before the heavy traffic by-laws come into operation, and the railways will not benefit to a material extent. The proper course for the Railway Department to adopt is to immediately reduce its freight charges, and popularise the service. To continue on the present lines is to hamper trade and restrict, the business of the rail-