KELBURNE-KARORI MOTOR-BUS CO.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1862, 23 September 1913, Page 4

KELBURNE-KARORI MOTOR-BUS CO.

. • Sir,—The question, of motor transit find its probable effect oil municipal undertakings has been lately discussed in the columns of your valuable paper. The maxim that only a cortain number of persons in a* community _ who happen to be elected-', to public positions should control all its enterprises, and especially its ; means of' transit, . is held by a good many people. This preIsitDposes that tlio representatives, always'act'for tho common good and that when a tramway routo is selected that it serves tlio convenience of all. There is no reason why it should not do so, becauselocal .authorities aro in tho position of large capitalists ; they can command plenty of mone.y and provided their enterprises arc judiciously planned they need not fear outsido competition. But \if they aro not so! And a private company attempts to'supply tho want! Oh, then say the authorities, wo can't allow anyone elso to compote and so endanger the ratepayers' money! Why? So many hundred thousands havo been spent and it-must be safeguarded, if necessary, 1 by legislation. Monopolies, of course, are baa, but a municipal monopoly is for the good of all! Take the caso of the Karori tram service and its extension to tho foot of Makara Hill; if Herbert Spenser liad seen the cars on-their way to Wellington rolling down the Tinakori Road towards Kaiwarra before ho wrote liis essay on the many forms;of bias, another would probably have been added, viz., "Municipal Bias." Tako anothor case, viz., whero a' district, is partly divided by a range of hills and fompany owning land across and wishing for communication with the centre offcrs the local authority a big subsidy to tnnnoi in its direction, and although the situation of tho tunnel is by no means a central one for the whole of the district, at the back of the lulls, tho ofior

is > accepted. Can this 'bo altered for tile general good? Certainly not-, is tlio answer. There is no more money; wo will stop any other company or person from improving tho means of communication, no matter if 75 per cent of tho residents travel a longer distanco, pay heavily, and tho whole development of tho district retarded, those in charge of affairs say: "So much ratepayers' money has been sunk and it must bo protected." So the perfection of municipal and Government control is looked upon as a sort of. fetish, and not oven the spectacle of a stonewall in Parliament will knock it down. Surely all the fish in the sea don't naturally gravitate to the municipal fish markot, hypnotised bv its name! • The Kelburne-Karori Motor-bus Co. lias been formed to do work that the local authorities have persistently refused to do, viz., to improve the means of communication; not formed in antagonism, but in self defence! Tho convenience of the Londonor is bettor served by the London Motor Omnibus Co. than by the County Council _ trams. In the samo way will the convenience of the Karori resident and tho saving of hiß time and money be better served by our company, as will very soon now be dearly demonstrated. —I am, etc., i ' THOMAS WARD.