THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27. 19S0. THE CIVILISATION OF TRANSPORT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20962, 27 February 1930, Page 10

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27. 19S0 . THE CIVILISATION OF TRANSPORT.

The modern world is marked by changing conditions of society.' It is certainly not desirable that our civilisation should be stationary and incapable of change; for that would imply a do---■; " true progress. Fortunately, there is in most civilised countries a greater readiness than formerly to welcome improved methods, not only of industry and trade, but also of plans that conduce towards social welfare. While changes should not be made hastily, for alterations do --' ""ocssarily imply improvements, we cannot stand still. Each age and each country has its own problems to solve, and one of these in lb- sphere is that of transport. The conference which is being held this week in Wellington at the instance of the Minister of Transport sr>ems to be concerned only with the restrictive effect of the motor regulations. This, however, touches only, the fringe of t - real transport problem. As in many other countries, the railways in New Zealand are losing much of their passenger trade to the more recently developed transport services that are privately owned. In this connection it is interesting to notice how Great Britain is attempting to solve il -' matter ? overlapping and competing services. Although the conditions of the two countries or not r--"llel, they are sufficiently similar to make the comparison of much interest. Great Britain' is the birthplace of the railway system, and her hundred years' experience of it has been marked by steady progress. Road transport has also been more fully developed at Home than in the Dominion. It has been arranged that the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the North Eastern Railway shall co-ordinate their services with the British Electric Traction Company to avoid undue competition and unnecessary overlapping of services.. This latter company includes no fewer than 36 omnibus and other road undertakings. There will be no amalgamation of railway and transport companies but there will be a co-operation in the various services and avoidance of duplication. This combination simply illustrates a phase of the system of rationalisation of industry which is designed to avoid wasteful forms of competition and unnecessary, duplication of plant. Unless large, well-equipped plants are fully occupied they are wasteful and expensive. An English' technical journal recently stated that the introduction r p •• 'Ways, by greatly increasing the facilities for travel, had encouraged people to explore their world and had made travelling much more general, "but we have now reached the stage of grumbling at the fare that is provided, at the lighting, and at the general accommodation, so rapidly do our standards alter in correspondence with the improvements due to the progress of science. For a long time the railways had it their own way; their speed was unrivalled, and their smooth road was made for them. But within the memory of our younger generation the road transport services have grown into prominence. They have demanded beautiful, straight roads—and have obtained them; they have achieved a speed not very far short of that attained by the railways; they have even established night services with sleeping cars and refreshments. Obviously a new situation had arrived which demanded serious study;- and we are glad to find that instead of prolonged and disastrous rivalry some measure of co-operation is now attainable. Competition is healthy, up to a point; but it is a calamity to any country, and also' to the industries concerned, when competition is carried on to an unreasonable extent between services which need only cooperation to become prosperous, but which carried on separately and" competitively are in danger of failure; not only possib?' financial failure, but failure in their value to the public—which, after all, is the main reason for their existence." Our problem in New Zealand is not quite the same as that in Great Britain in that we have State railways, but the need for co, operation between rail and road transport i- "nst as evident here as in many other The method of effecting this co-ordination will require careful consideration. In view of this need it is unfortunate that so many of our main roads run parallel or nearly parallel with' the mam trunk railway lines. This, of itself, involves wasteful competition between road and rail services. A Royal Commission which reported in 1928 on the state of Indian agriculture I recommended, among other things, that new roads, should in general be planned to run at right angles to the '

railways, so that these roads would serve as feeders for them rather than compete with them for traffic. It is too late now to think' of applying a policy of that kind in New Zealand. A plan, however, providing for the abandonment of the competition between rail and road services in favour of a system of transport whereby the road services might be made complementary and subsidiary to the railway services is one to which the serious consideration of the Transport Department should be devoted if it is to prove of any advantage at all to the public.