IMPORTANT ISSUE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22819, 28 August 1937, Page 16

IMPORTANT ISSUE

FARMER TRUCK-OWNERS RIGHTS IN THE FUTURE ROAD ALLIANCE CONCERNED' The future of farmers -wlio own and operate 'motor-vehicles, and that of other ancillary users, is discussed in a circular issued by the New Zealand Road Transport Alliance, following the recent statement by the Minister of Railways, the Hoti.'D. G. Sullivan, that the Government had no intention of imposing any restrictions on farmers using their own trucks for the carriage of their own produce. " The very limited and guarded terms in which this statement is couched give ground for considerable anxiety, and in conjunction with the existing legal position do not seem to afford much assurance of safety to the fairmer-owners of motor lorries," the circular states. " There are approximately 45,000 trucks in use in the Dominion, of which about 5000 are used by licensed operators, 5000 by town carriers, 14,000 by farmers, and 21,000 by other ancillary users. The problem of the rights of the ancillary User under the Government's proposed internal transport monopoly is thus an important one" to a very largo number of owners of vehicles,, and indirectly to the whole business community. Non-farmer Users "In his statement the Minister gives no assurance whatever as to the position of the non-farmer ancillary user, and the natural inference from this significant silence is that tho Government intends to take advantage of existing legislation to restrict or forbid his activities altogether. The Government has taken power for the Minister of Transport, whoso decision is final and not subject to appeal, to declare any service by motor-vehicle for the carriage of goods, whether for hire or reward or not, to be a goods service subject to the provisions of the Transport Licensing Act, 1931. " The position of even the farmeruser does 1 not seem to be effectually safeguarded by the cautious and evasive pronouncement which the Minister has made. Already convictions have been entered, and substantial fines imposed on owners of motorvehicles transporting their own goods for sale at a price which includes an allowance for transport expenses. Large Investments Involved

" The principle of those decisions may easily be held to cover the transport of produce or supplies inward or outward by farmers in their own vehicles, if the prices of the articles concerned are affected by the fact that the farmer undertakes the expense of moving them. " The Minister's further promise to provide a'flexible first-class goods service is vague in the extreme, and as- it stands carries no precise meaning at all," the circular adds. "In any case, as far as farmer-owners of goods motor vehicles are concerned, such a service is not likely to be of much use. "Farmers who already have a capital investment of approximately £3,000,000 in trucks will not use the Government's service except under compulsion, and the same applies to other ancillary users with an additional capital investment of £4,000,000."