AN UNFAIR BURDEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 92, 9 July 1927, Page 9

AN UNFAIR BURDEN

BRITISH RAILWAYS TAXED ROAD COMPLETION British Wireless. — Copyright. RUGBY, Thursday. The National Union of Railwaymen, at its annual conference to-day, protested against the heavy burdens British railways had to bear as compared with road traffic. It was pointed out that £1,200 million was'invested in the railways, which paid £42.000,000 annually in local rates. Road users bore no such charges. On the contrary, toward the upkeep of the nation’s roads, only £20,000,000 annually was paid by road users through the road fund, the remaining £30.000,000 being paid by ratepayers. Mr. J. H. Thomas. M.P., declared that the railway companies, by paying a heavy local rate, thus actually subsidised their competitors, who, unlike the railways, which must carry any traffic, could discriminate in favour of the most profitable loads. A resolution was unanimously carried drawing attention to the unfair handicaps under which the railways suffered, and urging that a co-ordinate policy between, all forms of transport should be introduced to provide a more efficient and more economical public service.—A. and N.Z.