‘YOU ARE ELECTIONEERING’

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 836, 3 December 1929, Page 10

‘YOU ARE ELECTIONEERING’

MR. MUNNS CRITICISED BY MR. ALLUM

TRANSPORT CONTROVERSY

That by his criticism of the Auckland Transport Board Mr. G. C. Munns, M.P. for Roskill, is electioneering, is a charge made by Mr. J. A. C. Allum, chairman of the board. In continuation of a protracted Press controversy, further correspondence has passed between the parties. Mr. Munns writes:—“You ask me for suggestions for improving the transport service controlled by the board. Surely. matters in connection with transport in Auckland have come to a sorry pass when your board appeals to a layman for suggestions. You have as your advisers, a supposedly highly efficient staff. You have as your manager a highly paid official who, after a world tour, informed us that Auckland had nothing to learn in connection with transport matters, yet you appeal to the public for suggestions. It appears to me to be an act of presumption on my part to attempt to advise you, but as you have challenged me through the Press, I appear to have no alternative.” WALKING TOUR Mr. Munns invites Mr. Allum to accompany him on a walking tour of the Three King’s district to see conditions for himself. After stating that Mr. Allum and his colleagues had proved to the public that the Transport Board could not run buses profitably, Mr. Munns says: “Get out of the bus business; hand over the Waikowhai, Hillsborough and Bucklaiul Road services without delay. Issue a licence to establish a service from Hayr Road into the city, but do not allow passengers to be picked up within a reasonable distance of the tram lines. By handing over these services the ratepayers would be saved a huge loss. “If you are not prepared to do this, may I suggest as an alternative that you to link up your tram termini by a service running from the Point Chevalier Hall to Royal Oak, or even to the Great South Road terminus. This would serve Royal Oak, Mount Eden, Dominion Doad, Edendale, Mount Albert and Point Chevalier, and would confer a great benefit to a large number of passengers between these points. It would serve a large area and would make it easier for people to travel from suburb to suburb. I would suggest that a lighter type of bus be provided, which would be less expensive to run.”

If the board still peysisted in clinging to its buses, it should take a leaf out of the private operators’ book, and make them pay, Mr. Munns goes on. Buses should be separated from the trams and from the influences of the tramway department., “Cut out your feeder buses —they will never pay,” the member* for Roskill advises. "Replace them by a regular service that will give satisfaction. Mount Albert and Edendale beyond the tram termini also require better service. I mention the Mount Eden and Three Kings district as examples because of their very serious position in connection with transport, but the other parts of my electorate are not much better off.” MR. ALLUM REPLIES Showu Mr. Munns’s letter Mr. Allum replied as follows this morning:—“No challenge ha 3 been issued to you and neither have you been appealed to for suggestions,” Mr. Allum says. “You have simply been asked to support your own public utterances Over three months ago you said you had received many complaints, and so far you have npt produced one of them. You have taken every opportunity to speak in disparaging terms of the board and its officers. Your latest reference to the staff is uncalled for and offensive, and a breach of good taste, of which no person, particularly one occupying the honourable position of a member of Parliament, should be guilty.” Mr. Allum proceeds to say that Mr. Munns's letter showed a remarkable disregard for or ignorance of the board’s policy. He had been asked. Mr. Allum continues, to make good bis claim that he had ideas which would settle the whole transport difficulty, but took refuge in the statement that the board had experts to advise it. Mr. Munns was restating things which had already been settled to the satisfaction of all reasonable people. “If you will do no more than peruse the Press reports of the board’s work, you will realise the inaccuracies in your communication and the futility of your contentions,” Mr. Allum says. "The board’s policy provides for the elimination of the greater part of the bus losses and proposals are under consideration to deal with the remainder. I understand that the Government, of which you are a member, operates bus services at a loss, and yet I hear no suggestions that these services should be handed over to private operators. “You are correct in stating that the success of the undertaking is largely in the hands of the board, but it will find difficulty in succeeding if transport problems are to be used for electioneering purposes, and it is for this reason that objection is taken to tactics such as you adopt.”