CONTROL OF TRANSPORT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20255, 15 May 1929, Page 13

CONTROL OF TRANSPORT.

THE ADVISORY COUNCILY

PREPARING FOR FUNCTIONING. PRELIMINARY WORK NECESSARY. <, ; •. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON, Tuesday. Until a good deal of preliminary work is done in the way of gathering statistics it will not be possible to call the Transport Advisory Council together. Discussing the matter to-day the Minister of Transport, Hon. W. A. Veitch, stated that until the Transport Department was set up, a commissioner appointed and a staff established, practically no conclusive statistical research work in tho matter of transport had been done. " The commissioner and his staff are now working hard on this task," said the Minister, " so that they may be able to place perfectly reliable facts and figures before tho council when it meets. I am sure it will be recognisecf by all concerned that it would be unwise to ask the council to come to any decisions or to make any recommendations in connection with this very important problem until tho facts and figures have been so thoroughly analysed that the effect of every administrative act can be accurately gauged. I expect to have this preliminary work completed for a meeting of the council in a few weeks." The Minister added that the need of the reliable information that ho had referred to became r,iore and more obvious when . one noted controversies taking place, in which figures relating to fees from heavy motor traffic were quoted, but in nearly every caso were quite unreliable. It had been stated that the heavy motor traffic fees amounted to £250,000, but when the statistics were completed it would bo found that the correct figure was far below that amount. For lack of proper information misconceptions were already developing in the p_uhlic mind, hence the importance of having complete and correct statistical information, without which mistakes were bound fo be made. " I have made up my mind to act comprehensively when the time comes,"concluded the Minister, but in the meantime I intend to fortify myself with the compleTe knowledge of the situation, before making the drastic changes that are needed to give the public the full benefit of what it is paying for—its transport services."