TREMENDOUS TIME LOSSES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 29 March 1938, Page 6

TREMENDOUS TIME LOSSES

UNDER PRESENT SYSTEM LICENSING AUTHORITY'S VISIT TO AREA The No. 3 Licensing Authority, Mr | T. H. Langford, in an interview recently, said that he was confident that! a great deal could be done to benefit 1 the fruit industry, which ultimately must stand on its own feet. It was at present subsidised by the Government so that a reduction of growers' costs of -transport ultimately would mean a saving to the public through a reduction of subsidy. During his visit to the area concerned last week, Mr Langford made an extensive investigation of the operations of route operators in the Motueka. Mapua and Tasman districts, and came to the conclusion that there were tremendous time losses through lack of co-operation under the present system. In some cases lorries spent 934 minutes from the time they reached the queue at the inspection sheds till the time they left the wharves. In another case, four vehicles of one company spent a total of 262 minutes waiting. The longest distance travelled in this case was 11 miles, and the service could have been adequately provided by two vehicles. It was found in Motueka that the average time taken by 25 vehicles was 52J minutes. Investigation here was made in the afternoon, and

I the same loss would have occurred in the morning, yet the figures were taken when traffic was well below the averj age. On 23rd March, when these figures I were obtained, the number of cases unloaded was 4137, but on 18th March it ( was 8204. It was not through lack of ! industry in the orchards or inspection! | sheds that time was lost, Mr Langford. said. The fault lay in the system of transport and to some extent the accom- | ' j modation in the inspection sheds. A j great deal of rationalisation of transport would have to be carried out under the new system and it would result i%j considerable savings. COMMENT IN CHRISTCHURCH The announcement from Nelson that trom Ist April all long-distance motor transport north of Blenheim and Grey- ! mouth will be controlled by a single i amalgamation (in association with two i others already established on the West 1 ; Coast > brings to a head a very interesting trend in transport administra- | tion—a trend almost peculiar to No. 3 area, in which is situated Canterbury as well as the northern provinces of the South Island (says the Christchurch I "Press”). The merger to be establish- j ed. controlling some 58 vehicles, will be the largest freight transport concern I in New Zealand and will link such divers production areas as the coal ; mines of the West Coast, the plains of 1 Marlborough, and the fruit-growing j districts of Nelson. The economies ; | which are expected to result, in the form of reduced road costs and freight j charges from the provision of special- j ; ised equipment and elimination of over- j lapping services, should be of material benefit to the districts served. Similar J ! steps taken to amalgamate competitive j services operating from Westport and > ! Hokitika have realised substantial adi vantages to the business communities. I j But the operating advantages likely to ; ensue from this latest and largest merger depend in very large measure on j skilful organisation. No useful purpose : can be served by minimising the task. | The directors and executive staff will j find that they probably have a greater ; ! variety of conditions to deal with than j any other transport concern in New i Zealand, excepting only the railways.' Certainly some departures from the ac-! cepted practices of motor transport ad- ! ministration can be expected. The dif- \ ficulty is that of combining centralised ! direction with a degree of local acton- ! omy sufficient to allow adjustment to 1 varying local conditions. Furthermore. j it must be recognised that transport is | only one factor, although possibly the , most important, in the machinery of distribution. In Nelson much of the i saving to the fruit industry is dependent upon fundamental changes in the processes of grading and inspection, so j ; that a widespread reduction in costs j cannot be expected merely from an im- ; j provement in road transport organisa- j I tion. Through rate-fixing conferences ' and the person of the Licensing Authority. to whom they may appeal against j

irregularities in price* or service, consumers should be adequately protected. But. as pointed out before in these columns, the Licensing Authority, part public servant and part Magistrate, is in an anomalous position. The value of such a merger may well be diminished by the fact that the Licensing Authority is. to all intents and purposes, a public servant against whose decisions it is possible to appeal only to the Min ister

r Transport. The establishment >f another “controlled monopoly” increases the need for revision of the ;tatus of Licensing Authorities. As Nel-

son in particular relies more completely on road transport than most regions in New Zealand, the test of this form of enterprise will be a complete one. Its results will be watched with the greatest interest, first, because it is a culmination of the trend towards amalgamation advocated by a Licensing Authority, and second, because it may prove to be a first step in the muchneeded overhaul of the transport system of the Nelson Province. Its effects on the Nelson railway, which fails to meet expenses, and on the Nelson harbour situation may be far-reaching.