MOTOR TRANSPORT

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 41, 26 September 1928, Page 2

MOTOR TRANSPORT

IS It ECONOMICAL. “A matter winch warrants very serious con sided vtion from those utilising commercial road transport where the State railways are available is that by repriviiig the railways of the high-class freight they leave the Railway Depfutment in a position that it is unable to operate except at a loss, unless the rates on the cheaper and more bulky classes of goocls, which provide the greater part of the tonnage to bo hauled, are raised!, ’’ says tb© Public) Works Minister m Ms statement. “As frequently tbo margin on which these goods are carried is so narrow that an increase even of a fraction of a penny per ten will divert /or kill the traffic altogether, the inevitable result in a deficit on the operation of the railway system. This deficit must be made good by the general taxpayer.” CALLING AT THE DOOR “When considering the economy or otherwise of motor transport, the individual consignor is very prone to look only at his freight bill, andl to think only of' th© convenience of having the motor-vehicles calling at the door; hut if he pauses to think of what motor transport viewed, as a whole is costing New Zealand this would probably change ins ideas. Last year the cosh of upkeep of the roads of New Zealand approached the £3,000,000 mark, an enormous increase on what whs necessary before the motor became la serious user of the roads. Towards this the motor-vehicle contributed less than £1,000,000. In the past eleven years there has been spent in maintaining the roadls £255 per motor-vehicle, during! which time there has been received • are available coif® have been carried The amount of money found in the wp-y of rates by the rural portions of New Zealand has trebled since 1911.

MOTOR TRANSPORT BILL "Many people, while rongratnlating themselves an obtaining! a convenience and imagining even an economy by using road transport, are (actually being involved in a loss; and even if no individual can show from his own books that he is suffering a loss, nevertheless the country as a whole is undoubtedly doing so. The motor-transport bill for evciy man, womanTband child in New Zealand is £SO per hepd per year*.” UNECONOMICAL.

It is estimated that all the goods and passengers carried by ' motor transport on routes where railways are aavilahle. could Wave been carried on the railways With almcet no additional expense, while the estimated revenue from this business some £630,000 per annum—would havlel made the railways practically selfsupporting. The significance of this fact from a Jtommuljiity (point of view cannot he overlooked. Looking at the matter broadly from the point of view of the country as a whole, it is undoubtedly uneconomical to transport goods by road which can be transported by railway, unless the circumstances are exceptional, LEGITIMATE FIELD. If the railways are placed, in the position_that as a result of their higher-tariffed goods 'being carried by Smother agency they are unable to he self-supporting;-’then, naturally, the Dominion cannot expect the overseas investors to supply loanmoney for any further railway development. either in tile way of extensions, improvements of present! lines, electrification, or other works to increase and cheapen facilities. There is no doubt that there is a legitimate field for the motor-vehi-cle, particularly the commercial mot-or-vehicle, hut the foregoing facts are simply put forward to impress on the public that in this matter there is something more to be considered than just the price at which some lorry-owner will agree to carry good s from the warehouse to a customer up the country.”