TRANSFER OF SERVICE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 153, 29 April 1940, Page 8

TRANSFER OF SERVICE

R.M. TO BE CONTROLLED BY? GOVERNMENT LENGTHY HISTORY OF COMPANY ASSOCIATION WITH THE * DISTRICT An impartant step forward in Ilio co-ordination of rail and road motor services Avas made recently when Cabinet sanctioned the purchase of the assets of the Rotorua Motor Transport Co., Ltd. The road services controlled by the company include Rotorua-Wai-rakei (connecting Avith HaA\ r ke's Bay services), Rotorua-Opotiki (linking up with Musgravc's Gisborne service),, and a series of sight-seeing services in the Rotorua thermal district, said the Minister of Railways (Hon. D. G. Sullivan) announcing the purchase. The licenses taken over also include tourist seiwices and tours, some of these being at present in direct opposition to services operated by the State. The acciuisition of these interests, Avhich include suitable business premises in Rotorua and Whakatane, will result in the Raihvay Department effecting considerable economy in operation and enable the framing of more satisfactory timetables, said the Minister. A fareAvell dinner Avas held at Rotorua on Thursday night and at the social Avhich followed the managingdirector and secretary Avere presented Avith suitable mementoes of their long service to the company. Mr S. McLeod represented the Whakatane Branch. The R.M. Company is the pioneer transport company of the thermal districts. Its origin dates from tliie year 18G9 and Avas due, initially,, to the transport requirements of the Maori Avars of 18(il-72 Avhich necessitated the conveyance of stores to small and isolated British garrisons stationed at the principal points of danger. Te Ivooti Avas then at large AviJ.h his marauding bands of fanatical fol loAvers and in 18(58 the PoA T ert3 r Bay massacre shocked the country. In 1870 the rebel leader attacked Rotorua, intending t.o massacre the Ara-> Avas for their loyalty to the GoAernment but his designs Avere defeated by the courage and shrewd generalship of a young British officer, Lieutenant Gilbert Mair, who Avas later to write his name indelibly on the early pages of Ncav Zealand colonial history. The battle began near the site of the present R.M. Transport Company's premises, then owned by the original .company, and consisting of a stable and a shed, the latter used as an office. It developed into a running engagement in which T'e Kooti had very much the Avorst of it and Avas chased back to the fatnesses of the UreAvera. It Avas Te Kooti's last open engagement* For many years afterAvards he liA'ed the life of a hunted exile until he AA r as pardoned in 1883. Youthful Pioneer. It was durin'g the period of Te Kooti's later raids that the company, from Avhich the present R.M. Transport Company had emerged, came into being. Its founder was a youthful pioneer, Edwin Robertson, Avho at the age of eleA r en years performed the seemingly impossible feat of leading a laden packhorsc OA r er Maori tracks and through Avliat Avas then an almost unknoAA r n wilderness lying between Tauranga and Rotorua. The journey, that in those days entailed a Aveek or privation and hardship, now occupies two hours. Within four years the young pion eer had built up a substantial business. His first packhorse, bought for the sum of 15s, grew into a stable of 25 and in 1873 the first buggy Avas bought and commissioned. This first com par y operated as the Robertson Miil and C •—h Company and by degrps it b* 1 v 'p a transport service with i a.n Vlions in all parts off the dis ri* v Further Changes. In the nineties, Mr Robertson's company disposed of its business to Messrs Carr and AValker. Conditions AA'ere still far from ideal an« the magnificent coach horses and sturdy vehicles owned by the company had to withstand them all. The services operated by the comf* pany carrying mail, passengers and goods radiated in all directions but chieily to the various centres on the Bay of Plenty Coast such as Tau•anga, Whakatane and Opotiki. J

In November, 1903, the Rotorua Motor Coaching Co (incorporating tlie business of Messrs Carr and Walker) was formed. The Motor Coaching Company finally went into liquidation witli Mr Iv. M. Rennie, whose death occurred recently in Auckland, in charge for the liquid dator. On April 3, 1920, Mr L. C(. t Ryan took over the management from Mr Rennie and during that time the company Avas called upon to deal with the record transport demands made by the visit of the Prince of Wales and the railway strike which coincided with his "visit Present Company Formed. In August, 1920, the present company came into being with the purchase of the Rotorua Motor Coach* ing Company's business by Messrs L. C. Ryan and Andrew Brown, the present principals of the firm. They also took oi'cr the position business known as the Hot Lakes Transport Coy., which was operating a service between Rotorua and Taupo with th ree old-vintage cars. The new com pany acquired eleven of these then comparatively novel vehicles, but disposed of them all, and purchased six of more modern make. The new company, in conformity with the demands of a generation becoming motor conscious, steadily developed its services, and in time accumulated a well appointed and modern fleet of 25 service cars, which operated on a large number of sightseeing and passenger runs in all parts of the district. It was responsible for the transport through the district of the Duke of York's party in 1927, involving the use of sixteen cars for a period of eight days, and also for dealing with the large parties from the tourist ships, Franconia, Carinthia and Mololo„ some of whiah necessitated the use of as many as 40 cars. Striking tributes to the efficiency of the service provided Avere paid by the cruise managers, Avho stated that the transport arrangements made for them in this district Avere the best they had erf countered on their cruises. In 1924 the R.M. acquired the busi ness of Mr J. J. Chapman at Wha« katane, and also that of Mr C. Fleming at Opotiki, AA'hen the company extended its services to Gisborne. The R.M. company, whose origins were associated with the earliest history of the district, has gone out of being, and has become merged into the organisation of New Zealand Road Services. Practically all of the staff, some of whom have been| with the company since its in-J ception, will transfer with the company.