SHORTAGE OF TRUCKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18896, 19 December 1924, Page 10

SHORTAGE OF TRUCKS.

POSITION IN AUCKLAND.

IDLE SHIPS AND COLLIERIES.

COALMINING SUSPENDED. "

TRAFFIC SERIOUSLY DISLOCATED

Coal and oversea cargo boats in the Port of Auckland and four collieries in the .adjacent district are affected seriously by the acute shortage of railway trucks on the northern and busiest- section of the State railways. Conditions have been exasperating to industry and shipping and mercantile business fur the pa.st fortnight but the climax was reached yesterday, when coalmining operations in the Auckland district had to be suspended.

Three of Auckland's collieries were compelled to cease work on Wednesday, while a fourth had to surrender yesterday, because of the stubborn shortage of railway waggons. The companies affected are those working the mines.at Taupiri, Pukemiro, Waipa and Glen Afton. They had been handicapped for the last two or three weeks by the same difficulty in less aggravated form, and lost a certain amount of work each day. Of (lie foui- collieries affected, only one, the Glen Alton colliery, was able during ih e past two days to work for 90 minutes. ,

the loss involved is serious, nut only.to the companies concerned, but also to their workmen and customers. Already th.er arc behind their contracts to the extent of 1500 tons. The plight of the miners is scarcely enviable. For months they have been working broken time, and just when there appeared to be a prospect of securing full wages to make Christmas a pleasant occasion, the chronic trouble-:in the form of a shortage of railway truc-ks fell upon the industry.

Protests to the Department. i,v r -

Several protests have been made to' 11: fe Railway Department with but little effect, for the simple reason that local administrators of the railway services are the embarrassed victims of higher administrative circumstances and of short-sighted policy, which together, at this season I 'of the year, throw parts of the traffic-system into chaos. Briefly, the trouble is that thero are not sufficient trucks in the service to meet all the midslimmer traffic needs of the North Island generally, and those of the Auckland district in particular. It is said that conditions are characteristically placid in the South Island, and that many trucks could have been spared from that ill-paying section of the national railway system to meet the clamant requirements of the North Island, which not only pays its way on the railways, but carries the deadweight losses of other districts.

Representatives of the Taupiri, Pukemiro and Waipa Coal Companies, interviewed the Auckland district railway traffic manager yesterday, and emphasised to him the seriousness of the position. Only cold comfort was secured, this being an assurance that the department would do its best to supply the companies with trucks, but it had to be understood that, on account of the increased traffic on the railways just now, the department could make no definite promise to keep the coalmines running.

coalmines running. v . As a matter of fact, it is admitted by representatives of industry and shipping that no other reply was to be expected, for the simple reason that the department has not got enough trucks. The Plight of Shipping. Mercantile shipping at Auckland also suffers acutely from the shortage of trucks. The measure of traffic dislocation is not complimentary to the asserted efficiency of the railways and the administrative enthusiasm for more and still more business and modern commercial methods. When it conies down to results,'] observed a representative of maritime trade, " the whole thing is a pretentious political farce."

Coal-carrving vessels and overrea steamers with cargoes from Nauru anil Mediterranean ports have been affected mostj their output in respect of discharging. being about one-third of the amount in normal conditions. "We want to discharge 600 tons a day," declared a prominent shipping representative, " and we can only secure railway trucks for 200 tons. That cannot be described as reasonable efficiency."

There is a word of praise given to the local officials of the Railway Department, who have succeeded, at least, in preventing the traffic in sea-borne coal from falling into a dire position. This partial relief has been given by the use of "crip-r pled" waggons, which had been sent i)H for workshop repairs, on the short'.s<?£-* tion of line between the wharf and coal dumps, under the eye of "waggon doctors."

But at this season of the year preference is given to the transport of goods into the country for the Christmas holiday season. Then many trucks have been withdrawn for the purpose of crude :cotv version into passenger carriages or. sootbegrimed picnicking routes. It is <aglorious system.

What appears tn amuse business men in a griin way is the fact that the Kailway Department has commercial agents in town pleading with producers and merchants not to send their products ami goods either by steamboat or motor-truck, but to patronise the efficient raiiw*} system of the Dominion. This anomalous position raises derision in business circles.