UNFAVOURABLE OPINION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 21 June 1937, Page 8

UNFAVOURABLE OPINION

STATE OWNERSHIP OF ROAD TRANSPORT tUnited PresH Axsooiatlun) AUCKLAND, 18th June. The conviction that the users of road transport and taxpayers generally would best be served by private enterprise was expressed .by Mr A. S. Bailey, president of the New Zealand Road Transport Alliance, on his return from Wellington, where he attended the meeting of transport operators affected by the Government’s purchase proposals. Mr Bailey said he first wished to express appreciation to the Government and to the Minister of Transport (the Hon. R. Semple) in particular for their sincerity in endeavouring to treat the transport industry fairly.

“The very definite opinion of the industry, however, is that the single ownership policy of the Government embracing as it does State ownership and monopoly, can only bring increased transport charges and disservice to the public,” Mr Bailey added. “Operators believe that the interests of users of road transport and of the taxpayers generally can best be conserved by the efficiency of private enterprise.”

Mr Bailey explained that under the Transport Licensing Act, 1936, the Government had power to require a service to be licensed whether it was plying or hire or reward or not. That would mean that a private individual or firm carrying its own goods for more ihan 30 miles along a railway would require to obtain a license. It was hardly likely, however, that after the Governmnet had purchased . licensed services those licenses would be readily obtainable.