DIFFICULTIES FACING PUBLIC TRANSPORT UNDER TAKINGS IN N.Z.

Wanganui Chronicle, 14 April 1949, Page 7

DIFFICULTIES FACING PUBLIC TRANSPORT UNDER TAKINGS IN N.Z.

One point made clear from the annual conference in Invercargill recently of the Public Passenger Transport Association of New Zealand was that difficulli'es caused by the bad slate of the Dominion’s economy and also by conditions overseas, was affecting all local codies which were members of the association, said Cr. R. E. Jack at the monthly meeting on Tuesday night of the Wanganui City Council. Cr. Jack, who is chairman of the Transport Committee, attended the conference as the council’s delegate. The engineer and manager, Mr L. F. Row. also attended. “One southern municipality is losing thousands of pounds a year and would normally be collecting this loss in rates; but its rates are already up to the statutory maximum, so that its financial position is just sliding further into the miro,” Cr. Jack added. “The shortage of tram rails is general and acute. One of the main larger cities has not a single length of new rail in stock and none in sight. Obtaining hardwood poles for maintenance work is also offering great difficulty. Deliveries are far in arrears and uncertain, and the quality of such poles as are obtained are stated to be poor. Most authorities are having a lot of trouble in getting uniforms for their traffic staff, and one has been reduced to dyeing Army uniforms for the purpose. “A decision that may have important results was to ask the Government to free local body transport undertakings from the control of the Price Tribunal and the Transport Charges Committee in the fixing of fares. Delays by these authorities aggravate the losses of the undertakings,” Cr. Jack said.