ROAD MAINTENANCE

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3470, 24 May 1934, Page 4

ROAD MAINTENANCE

DAMAGE BY CREAM CARTAGE OVERLAPPING. COUNTY COUNCIL DISCUSSION. V> Proposed amendments to the transport legislation were indicated at yesterday's meeting of the Waipa County Council. The chief executive officer, Transport Department, .advised that the Transport Law Amendment Act, 1933, established a Transport Co-ordination Board with, inter alia, the following powers: From time to time, of its own initiative, or as and when directed by the Minister, to hold such inquiries, make such investigations as it or the Minister deem necesasry or expedient, and to report to the Gov-ernor-General through the Minister the result of such inquiries and investigations with such recommendations as it thinks fit for the purpose of securing the improvement, co-ordina-tion, and development and better regulation and control of all means of and facilities for transport and all matters incidental thereto. The Board has decided as a preliminary step to make a comprehensive survey of the whole transport system of the Dominion, and at the same time to make itself acquainted with the existing knowledge on the problem, which experience and practice have no doubt accumulated within the transport industry. It therefore seeks the co-operation of the Council to furnish any information which would be of assistance to the Board in investigating any aspects of the whole problem. The Board is- anxious to, obtain flacts and figures regfarding points enumerated on a questionnaire submitted. Information sought is as follows: — 1. Any suggestions by the Council in the direction of securing the better co-ordination of rail, road, and coastal shipping services. 2. The present system of motor taxation, with paiticular reference to the heavy traffic license fees. 3. The operation of the Transport Licensing Act, 1931, in the county with particular reference to the licensing of motor trucks and any suggestions for improvements in the licensing machinery. 4. Does the-> Council consider that the cartage of milk and cream which is now exempt from the provisions of the Transport Licensing Act should be subject thereto ? Clause No. 4 was a subject that the chairman asked the Coundil to discuss. One member suggested that inclusion of milk and cream vehicles would tend to prevent overlapping of services. The engineer tabled a plan to show the overlapping of cream cartage services in the Puahue district. On one side road lorries of three comipeting dairy companies traversed the road daily, and obviously did a good deal of damage to the roads, which were not heavily metalled. "The farmers are cutting their own throats under the present system," commented one councillor. To a question, the engineer said £SOO worth of damage was "done to one secondary road through excessive use of lorries for cream cartage. The chairman said-settlers saved a little on their cream cartage but lost it all by having to pay more rates for road maintenance. "We must force the dairy companies to agree among themselves," commented one councillor. It was maintained that lorry drivers would be compelled, by the terms of their license, if not by their eontracts, to treat suppliers of different companies equitably. A suggestion was made that the competing companies could easily confer together and draft suitable conditions of contract for cartage of all the milk and cream from a given area. To a suggestion that any amalgamation would tend to create a monopoly, it was argued that the saving would be gained in less damage to roads and vehicles and waste of petrol, tyres, and men's time. Cr Church: We might as well insist on all farmers in an area sending their milk or cream to one factory!" Cr Livingstone remarked that there was far too much interference with the private individual, but he recognised that the local bodies must protect the interests of their ratepayers, who now had to pay so much for road maintenance. The discussion became fairly general on side issues. It was stated that cream was conveyed daily from Taupiri to Putaruru, and from Pukekura to Morrinsville, and from Ngahinapouri to Te Awamutu—in all instances passing existing factories or creameries, and thus causing damage to roads by the increased mileage. Cr Johnson observed that a solution might be the introduction of a zoning system, restricting supplies from farms to a given area. Asub-comjmittee, the chairman and A sUb-committee, Crs Macky, Storey, Clarke, and M'cGee, was appointed to investigate the position and report to next meeting.