TRANSPORT FINANCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 762, 7 September 1929, Page 10

TRANSPORT FINANCE

MR. LUNDON REPLIES TO MR. J. A. C. ALLUM Tho following letter on the subject ot transport finance has been received from Mr. J. R. Lundon: Sir,— Serenity of conscience inclines me to pity, rather than to blame, the dis- ; gruntled Mr. Allum for subjecting bis assertive ego to a disciplinary, if not a penitential, silence on the ~six most vital points in the Transport Board secretary’s pronunciamiento of August 27. to which I directed public attention m The Sun. (1) A £17,777 drop in receipts for I4u consecutive days from April 3, 1929 to August 23, 1929. (2) A £44,750 potential pro rata de19^f S 3O in receipts £or the fuli year, (3) Mr. Clarke’s “estimated deficit of £22,047” for this financial 12 months’ period. (4) The ascertained loss of 2,103.090 passengers during that 145-day period as compared with the number carried during the same period in 1928—a drop which, on a pro rata basis for the whole year, will exceed 5,000,000. (5) “The pregnant official warning that attention cannot be given too early for the balancing of the present year’s receipts and .expenditure”—an essential duty that must not be neglected. (6) Mr. Clarke’s recommendation to tho salaried board to reduce by one full half, as from the first day of next month, the existing 25 per cent, discount to purchasers of concession ticket^7~ which exaction the public will in six months from October 3, 1929, have contributed an extra £17,135 toward the increases in the salary list and the general extravagance with which the undertaking lias been burdened. This £17,135 falls far short of the secretary’s “estimated deficit” of £22,047. The board has not indicated how the hiatus is to bo financially bridged. There is the “£78,000 of accumulated loss” to be added to Mr. Clarke’s “estimated deficit of £22,047” for this year. The travelling public, and the unfortunate ratepayers and property owners within the area of the board’s territorial power to levy tribute (under the drastic provision of the Auckland Transport Act) are therefore liable to bo “hit to leg” to provide financial cover for over £IOO,OOO of “accumulated loss” and “estimated deficit” for this year. Confronted with this stark truth by me in my Sun disclosures of the 2nd and 4th inst., Mr. Allum descends from his exalted pedestal to sneering, and “declines to be a party to any controversy with Mr. Lundon.” There can be no controversy as to tho desperate position disclosed by the board’s chief executive officer. The £3 00,000 of loss and deficit is beyond controversy. It calls insistently to the keenest intellects and the clearest business brains in the community for remedy. Its S.O.S. must be answered. Further floundering in the morass of ineptitude and indecision is unthinkable. The “taihoa” bacillus must be fought. Want of confidence in the no- • minated board, as constituted, and deep . public resentment toward the management are incontrovertible. Admittedly, there are seme capable men op the board, and in the administration. Resignation, followed by an election under an unrestricted adult residential franchise. is suggested as a first step in the direction of achieving “a brighter future” for the transport “pup” wished on a somnolent people, lang syne. There remains another alternative: Legislative action, following an immediate appeal to Parliament, for the prompt abolition of that profound negation of the birthright of a free people—taxation without elective representation. Meantime the within the cloisters of board i|bm and from representatives of outside local bodies) of an impending threepenny flat sounds ominously to our thousands "of ” : K?i’ SeCtlon P assen & e rs. That probability, or the officially recommended lmpositional 12t per cent, increase in the price of concession tickets, should bestir to action our soporific citizenry —soon to be awakened to the realitv of having to foot an additional heavy bill for interest, sinking fund, maintenance, repairs, upkeep, increased wages and sundry “frillings” arising from the extensions to which the public stands committed, to the tune of ~i>25,600 of future loans, in addition to the £1,800,000 of sunken capital for which the whole undertaking is now hypothecated. J. R. LUNDON.