BIG CHANGES IN TRANSPORT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 8 October 1936, Page 9

BIG CHANGES IN TRANSPORT

SATISFYING ALL PARTIES LICENSING AUTHORITIES’ WORK PROGRESS TOWARDS NATIONAL CONTROL Far-reaching changes in the transport system of the Dominion are already under W3y. They involve amalgamations, purchases by the Railways Department, and full revision of existing licenses, all of which will be done under the direction of the Transport Department, through tire Transport Licensing Authorities stationed in each of the four main centres.

Mr T. K. Langford, the authority for the No. 3 District, has just completed a lour of his area, extending over Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson, and the West Coast, and in describing the progress made, he told a “Press” reporter that already agreements were being reached between transport firms, farmers, and business men on means of improving conditions. The whole idea was to eliminate the cut-throat competition that had existed for so long, and by setting about it in a determined manner the department expected to do much for the transport operators and users throughout the country. One of the most important of the plans of the department, Mr Langford said, was that transport licenses, which lapsed last May, should be renewed, when approved, for a further three years instead of the usual term of one year. This would give greater stability to the industry and make for the better development of it.

RAILWAY INTERESTS A 30-mile limit was to be enforced for operators whose transport businesses ran parallel with the railways. If a carrier competed for this distance with the trains his license would be extended only to May, 1937. Within that time he would be given the bpportunity to confer with the Railway Department in an endeavour to arrange a price for the sale of the business to the Government. To give the operator the necessary protection the Transport Licensing Authority for his district would arbitrate. .This, Mr Langford said, was part of the Government’s policy of doing away with uneconomic competition. So far the parties concerned had shown no objection to the scheme. In future the Post and Telegraph Department would discontinue its practice of calling at regular periods for tenders for the carriage of mails. Arrangements would be made for the department to renew existing contracts where the service given was suitable and satisfactory. By this means price-cutting in submitting tenders would be eliminated and other undesirable features done away with. Arrangements had also been made for the Post and Telegraph Department to make increases in its payments, where warranted, to mail contractors who had been affected by the recent legislation governing the hours of work and the payment of wages.

CARRIERS UNITE Mr Langford said that the chief outcome of his tour through Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson, and Westland was the formation of associations of transport operators. Everywhere there had been support for these organisations, and the plans of the department were being received enthusiastically by the parties involved. These associations, he said, had been instructed to meet the farmers and other users of the transport facilities, and arrive at a satisfactory scale of charges. Already a schedule acceptable to all parties had been prepared in Kaikoura. and similar schedules were being prepared in Blenheim, Nelson, Greymouth, and Ashburton. Very little difficulty had been met with in arriving at these schedules. When transport operators would not join the associations they would be re--i uired to observe the scale of charges drawn up by the associations, Mr Langford said. It was found when the schedules were prepared that some increases in the charges were necessary, but this was generally accepted by the farmers and other users, as competition had forced prices down to an uneconomic level.

AMALGAMATIONS MADE Amalgamations were also being arranged, and the operators thus absorbed were being given consideration. These amalgamations were essential in the rationalising of the system. One of particular interest in Christchurch had been made this week, when one operator providing a passenger service to Belfast bought the business of another. It was the object of the department to arrange and assist in negotiating such amalgamations. The transport authorities would have access to the private files of the various operators and where two competed uneconomithe more efficient would be advised to negotiate for the purchase of the business of the other.

In its progress towards bringing the whole transport system of the Dominion under the control of the Transport Department the Government had made an important step by its announcement that all towns of 6000 obnulation and less would be brought under the Transport Licensing Act, Mr Langford said. This-would increase th-> number of vehicles under the control of the Transport Department by approximately 33 1-3 per cent. : Ultimately it was intended that the laigger towns and the cities should be brought in also. j

COMMON AREAS Under the present system, carriers in various country districts operated in prras specially allotted to them. Mr Langford said. He produced a plan of the Ashburton county showing the present districts of various carrying firms, overlapping one another until the confusion was hopeless ft was intended, he said, to allow the majority of the operators to work to the full limit of the boundaries of the eoun+ics in which they had their headquarters and thus avoid confusion.

A type of carried known as the ancillary operator, using the roads ostensibly for the carriage of his own goods, had caused considerable trouble. Mr Langford said. These men had used their status as ancillary users

as a guise under which they carried on a business, and they would now be brought within the scope of the act. There would be similar tightening of the regulation governing the issue of temporary licenses by postmasters. Mr Langford said. The postmasters had given their full co-operation in the past, and they would do so again.