SAVE £5OOO ANNUALLY

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11772, 7 March 1924, Page 2

SAVE £SOOO ANNUALLY

IN CITY TRANSPORT

INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE MAKES ITS REFORT. IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATIONS CITY COUNCIL DISCUSSION. The long-expected report of the Ii vestigation Committee (Councillors t Mitchell, chairman, C. H. Chapman, V H. Bennett, and H. D. Bennett) ws presented to the City Council last nigh The report said:— They have investigated the supply an operation of the mechanical transpoi services throughout tbe various depar monts of the corporation. The principf officers connected with transport wei examined, and their evidence shows t.t urgent need of revision of the preser methods of purchase, overhaul, replace ment, and control of the mechanic: transport. There are eight different departmenl using motor transport, as under:—Chn 21; trucks, 40, tractors, 9; cycles, II Each department has exclusive e,ontrc of its own motor stock, and separat arrangements are made for the housin' repair, and replacement of each deparl ment's vehicles. BADLY EQUIPPED TRANSPORT. Some of the general departments ar very badly equipped with transport, an* at times have to hire from outside firm m order to cope with the work allotte to them. This is found to be more cost ly than would have been the case if th council's own vehicles had been sufficien to cope With the demand. The non trading departments are also handicap by tli© fact that no provision i made for replacements, and they are oh liffed to continue in use machines tha have long been worn out and are thu, excessively costly in repairs and run ning expenses. Taking the five cars a an example, we find that the nunninj costs (excluding petrol, oil and grease and drivers wages) last year amounte< to, -—No. 1, .£167; No. 2, £l41 5 No. 8 4 SS ; O *A No. 5, £135; total £769. This is more than five Americai cars could be bought for, while five car of suitable design for our use, of Britisl manufacture, and giving a fairly lorn life, with low running costs, can be ob tamed for £I7OO. It will be seen, there tore that the cost of maintaining somi ot these worn-out machines for one yea: would go a long way towards providing suitable machines having low mainten sp c ® oosts. It may also be pointed ou that the oil and petrol consumption o: the above five machines is very heavy The trading departments, on the othei v?a ilave . a i ‘sufficient fleet, and ar< able to provide for replacements out o! their revenue. REPAIRS. There is no method in. operation at the present time whereby a department that has a n urgent call for extra transport may utilise the temporarily disengaged of another department. Bach department arranges for its own repairs, repair machinery, and spare

1 parts. There are several repair shops, and these could! be easily and profitably b combined into one, thus reducing- over- . head charges. 1 No spare machines are provided. Consequently machines are continued in use , Tv 1611 overhaul and repairs are required; ; thus their running life is shortened, and , only a portion of the effective value ©f the machines is obtained by the council, i It is important that spare machines be , available to allow a proper system of - overhaul to be put into force. STANT>AHMSATLON. , Of 40 trucks in the council's service, i there are 18 different makes: and of 21 [ cars 10 different makes. With such an : assortment an economical system of running, providing' spares and maintenance, impossible. Although complete l standardisation may not he desirable, a reasonable system should be immediately . enforced. JE3ridence shows that if a system of standardisation were decided upon, initial cost would he considerably less, as also expenses of running l , repairs, and spare parts. ONE TRANSPORT DEPAB/TMENT. The committee finds it desirable to have one motor fraaspSft department, responsible to the council for the whole oi the councils motor vehioles, their upkeep and replacement, and to see that snch are used only for the purpose intended. This department would charge departments requiring transport for the actual use made of the machines, such changes ’being sufficient to cover the running costs, maintenance, and provision f«r replacing the machines when worn ouThis would keep the fleet in a state of constant efficiency without calling upon the council for funds. To facilitate the smooth running of this department, the committee consider it essential to have a board of control, and recommend: accordingly. 11 y the adoption of .the recommendations herein 6et out, the city will he provided with a much larger and a more modern and efficient plant, besides which the figures show an annual saving of over .£SOOO on the present cost. The committee recommended that vhe hoard of control should consist of the Mayor, the city engineer, the manager

of the tramways and electricity department. and the manager of the milk department. CHANGES FAVOURED. When presenting the report. Councillor Mitchell said: the question of transport had been gone into very exhaustively. The committee had endeavoured to arrive at a decision as to what would be in the general interest of the city, and not in the interest of any one branch of the corporation services. It. was found that some bnanohes were poorly equipped with transport, ■while others which wero rovenue-produo-ing were well off. The street works, for instance, had seven truckß, and was considerably hiring from outside, and hiring from, outside was expensive. A great fault was that none of the departments had any epare plant. In the case of the street works there was no spare plant, and not enough machines, which resulted in vehicles being worked long after they ought to have been put aside for overhaul. There was no'system of maintenance, writing-off, and replacement. GREATER EFFICIENCY. It was found that there were five cars, the upkeep of which was' greater in a year than the cost of new cars would have been. There was no provision for one branch of the corporation service which was short of_ a car getting ■ne from another department ’Which had one to spare- Complete standardisation was not considered possible, but considerab e standardisation was thought necessary. As an example of the need of standardisation, it was only .necessary to point

MELBOURNE SERVICE. Tho Union Company advise that the Moeraki leaves Melbourne at 10 a.m. on Saturday for Wellington, Lyttelton, Dunedin and Bluff. She is due here on Thured iy next. VESSELS DELAYED BY RAIN. Owing to the wot weather very little work was able to be done on the wharves yestorday In consequence the departures of sevs.nl coastal vessels have been delayed. The Opawa. for Havelock, and tho Echo, for Blenheim, which were to have sailed yesterday, are now to sail to-night. The Titoki, on the slip, was also delayed and will now sail on Saturday for Westport, Groymouth and Hokitika.

Yout that of 40 trucks in the counci cervices there were 18 different makos To overcome these difficulties it v thought that there should be a transpc i department of the council to control ; ! transport matters. The committee wh ed to thank the officers of t council who had given the be advice at their command, the recommendations of the commiti were adopted a result would be a fie far more efficient than the present, aj more economical. THE MAYOR'S VIEWS. Tbe Mayor, in reply to the repoi ♦ sai5 aic ‘ that there was no doubt that V drastic rearrangement of the transpc services was necessary. The matter w before the council before, but counciLlo never had the courage to face the mi ter, as it wohld have involved! too mu< expense to (put the system on a bett footing. There were serious objectio: to the proposal of interchange of pla] n _ 'between the departments, because tj {■* question of the life of mot vehicles was one of drivers. Then the as tuattcr of standardisation, whi< t t. had come before the council again at again. It had always got up to tl id °f what make they were to stan r t ardise upon, and there it <had stoppe No suggested reformers had fie courai aj to recommend any definite make. re would be dangerous to place themselvin the hands of any one maker, becaus Q t as soon as that happened, up would { e _ the price. aj Councillor McVicar: No, no. Nothii of the kind. The Mayor: I can only say, Counci B lor McVicar, that you know nothing < 0* business. 0 i The Mayor also objected to the eui te gestion that the tramway committo g S H°. U he loaded with further respoi £ sibility in connection with the tran port board. He was afraid that tl statement that the council would .£SOOO per year under the proposed sy re tem was a very cheerful and optimist! id one. He hoped it would be so, bt is could not see how it was going to ha] d pen. As far as the tramway depar t- ment was concerned, he feared thei io would be, not a saving, but an actui it loss. "ANOTHER OMISSION." [* s Anothor omission in the report, sai lj» the Mayor, was that r.o provision ha been made for interest and sinking fun lg on the .£17,000 capital required to pu the new scheme into operation, jg Councillor W. H. Bennett said tha the committee had considered this an g had not felt itself bound! to consider th d Vjo ffreat degree, as the; j had found the council had for years bee j* buying tho motor 'vehicles ana chargin * thorn to the expenses of the various d t partments. The Mayor's criticism, h . claimed, had not been directed agains the main recommendation of the com * mittee, which was that the whole c £ the motor transport of the council shouh *" 'he concentrated under one departmenl ■® He admitted that the tramways depart £ ment ran their transport economical! * and well, and tho scheme would oonfe l " no great (benefit upon it. The commit ■J tee recommended, however, that th tramways department should, in the in r - terest of the city as a whole,, throw ii r their lot with the scheme, e f UNDUE OPTIMISM .FEARED. Councillor A. W. Parbon said he sup ported the report in its entirety. Th e work the committee was doing ough to have been undertaken long ago. Th t did not agree with some of the criticism! ] of the Mayor. Councillor A. U. Monteith agreed witl 1 much that the committee said, bu thought that in parts it was optimistii respecting pavings.' He thought it ab * surd to put tho transport under a board _ and that it would be better to give th« control to a committee of the council He did not think a saving of ,£5300 woulc " !be made, or anything like it. ; Councillor J. Burns thought the fins! | matter that should have been gone or p with was the appointment of someone tc c take udntrol. The figures showing that • the cost of the upkeep of fivo cars aver* l aged* -£l4O a year were astounding and he thought details should have been fur* nished, as the suggestion was that there had been waste. If standardisation wps adopted the corporation would be entire- • ly at the mercy of some particular firm. Councillor T. Forsyth moved that the L committee be thanked for the report and • action bo held over till the garage under • construction .is completed!. 1 Councillor H. D. Bennett: Why don't 1 you oppose it straight out, man? Come at it! Councillor B. G. H. Bum seconded this. Councillor C. H. Chapman hoped the report would not be deferred, but that it would he adopted and put into operation forthwith The Mayor said he would support the proposal to hold action over. Councillor J. Burns said) he would vote in favou* of the report. ' REPORT ADOPTED. Councillor Mitchell, in replying, said the committee had had, some difficulty in claßifying the position of the engineer, but the report in the engineer's department would be before the council within a week. If on Engineer were appointed he could not begin to function seriously before six months from now. The speaker'appealed to the council to view the proposals as policy matters, and not to haggle over inconsequent details. Orders were now in for cars which were being hung up, and he oould not see why there should be any delay. The tramways had nothing whatever to lose with coming in. The Mayor: On, yeo they have. There was no evidence against the proposals at all, continued Councillor Mitchell. and it had further to be remembered that the tramways existed far the sake of the city, and if it were for the good of the city to come into the proposal, it was only right that they should sink their little objections. Everyone admitted that their proposals were sound in principle, but had run -off at a tangent when they came to details. The figures used had, been compiled by one * the council's officers, in whom they all had implicit trust, and he had done the work efficiently and well. It was not done with the idea of bolstering up the proposal. On a vote being reached, the proposal to defer the report was defeated and) that to adopt the report carried. Tho voting on the proposal to deter was as follows: Ayes.—Wright, Bum, Forsyth. Noes.—Aston, H. D. Bennett, W. H. Bennett. Bums, Chapman, Luekie, Meadowenroft, Mitchell, Monteith, McVicar. Paxton, Thompson. The report was then adopted.