TRANSPORT INDUSTRY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26849, 13 August 1948, Page 5

TRANSPORT INDUSTRY

. AID FOR EX-SERVICEMEN SUITABLE VEHICLES SOUGHT P.A. WELLINGTON, Aug. 12. \ The'transport industry had provided a useful means of rehabilitating exservicemen, and, in spite of in connection with dollar funds|r-‘n-deavours were being made to assist exservicemen to obtain suitable vehicles from other sources, said Mr J. B. Cotterill (Govt., Wanganui) in the House of Representatives this afternoon, when the second-reading debate on the Transport Law Amendment Bill was continued.

Discussing the taxi position, Mr Cotterill said the question of whether there were sufficient taxis in any centre must always be a difficult one. In ‘a rush period it might be hard to obtain a taxi, but if sufficient were available to meet the needs of the community during that period the operation of an individual taxi business might become uneconomic because of the numjpr of cabs that would be available at slack periods. The purpose of the Bill was to serve the best interests of the community by-co-ordinating the transport services and to serve the best interests of those engaged in the industry itself. The Minister of Transport, Mr Hackett, replying to the debate, said the opposition attack on the proposed , transport co-ordination council as set out in the Bill was unwarranted. The council was composed of men who had spent all their working years in some form of transport. He said that many of the men were specialists, and their knowledge would be of great value tp the country. , , , , An alarming statement had been made by the member for Ashburton (Mr R. G. Gerard) when he said that a case could be made out for the delicensing of transport. The only case that could be made out was pirating, the working of long hours for small wages, and for taxi drivers to use the back seats of their cars for beds. Operators of taxis could only give the service if there were ways and means of those wanting to hire them making contact with them. Power to instruct taxi drivers to belong to an organisation was therefore included in the Bill. There was a type of car coming on to the English market in the near future which would be suitable for taxi work and which would be reasonably priced. Negotiations to procure some of these cars were in tram. The Government’s view was that there would always be room for private enterprise in the transport industry, but it also believed that the great public investment in railways must be protected. i The Bill was given a second reading, and is to be referred to a special committee comprising Messrs J. B. Cotterill (Govt.), R. G. Gerard (Oppn.), W. S. Goosman (Oppn.), R. M. Macfarlane (Govt.), G. H. Mackley (Oppn.), J. Mathison (Govt.), T. E. Skinner (Govt.), S. W. Smith (Oppn.), and the Minister of Transport. Mr Hackett, replying to a question asked by Mr Mackley, said’ the committee would meet in the near future —perhaps to-morrow—when it would select a chairman and then fix a date when it would take evidence.