CONTROL OF TRANSPORT

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1933, Page 7

CONTROL OF TRANSPORT

POLICY OF THE DEPARTMENT NO INTENTION TO FIX RATES. ASSURANCE OF COMMISSIONER. INTENTIONS OF REGULATIONS. By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchurch, Last Night. An assurance that the Government did not at present intend to fix the freight rates for goods transport by motor was given by the Commissioner of Transport (Mr. J. S. Hunter) before a meeting of those interested in the regulations governing the transport of goods in Canterbury. Mr. Hunter said the subject would be carefully studied and the advice of those engaged in the industry would be sought before the question of freight rates was decided. Operators could be sure that no rates would be fixed for at least a year, also that no annual inspection of vehicles was contemplated. At the same time Mr. Hunter emphasised that a condition attaching to every license was the the vehicle should be maintained in good order and safe condition. The regulations had not been introduced, he said, to bolster up the railways. There was definitely no relationship between the Railways and the Transport Departments, and the Railways Department was in no more favourable position to make representations to the licensing authorities than were any other transport interests. The transport regulations had been gazetted in order to give tire Government an opportunity of studying thoroughly the whole problem of transport, and it was ,the department’s wish that the regulations should come into operation with as little inconvenience to operators as possible. No person in his senses would contend that the railways were the ideal means of transport for all commodities over all distances. The road and the rail each had its proper sphere, and the department’s job was to examine all available data so that the sphere of each could be defined.

Mr. Hunter said he thought that all would agree that transport was a key industry in need of control, and that it should not be allowed to be carried on under the jungle law of the past.