TRANSPORT BILL

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 87, 9 October 1931, Page 8

TRANSPORT BILL

TO BE REDRAFTED

AMENDMENTS MADE The Transport Licensing Amendment Bill is to be re-drafted, according to an announcement made by the Minister of Transport (the Right Hon. J. G. Coates) in the House of Representatives last night. He was unable to give an indication of the proposed amendments, he said. Continuing the debate on the second reading of the Bill, Mr. W. Nash (Labour, Hutt) said that it was necessary to eliminate as far as possible all unnecessary transport on the roads. There were at present three forms of passenger transport to the Hutt. One only was necessary, but two could probably do the job better than one. The third was completely unnecessary. He did not blame the owners of the taxis for trying to earn their living, hut they were taking, he had been informed, £.80 per day from the buses, and legislation was necessary to cope with this form of competition at the earliest possible moment. Taxis were not only operating in this way in the Hutt, but in a number of other places in the Dominion. The Transport Department's report showed that the rival services to the railways were taking £1,032,000 per annum in revenue, aud this fact alone justified the Bill. Private enterprise had failed hopelessly as far as transport was concerned, and it behoved the administrators of the Bill to find out the most efficient form of transport and cut out wasteful competition. Mr. Nash said that he was glad that the local bodies were being giv»n some protection, and he advocated that protection of a similar nature should be given to the railways. The taxis had not appeared on the Hutt road until the bus fares had beeu raised and the intervals "between the buses had been lengthened, and he hoped that when the Bill was passed the Hutt bus service would be reduced and the time-table made more convenient. He advocated a reduction of fares to twelve, rides for six shillings. He was confident that if the Bill were passed it would save at least £1,000,000 in twelve months, and a large portion of this amount would be saved on the Hutt road. Mr. C. H. Clinkard (Government, Rotorua) said that if the 1929 Bill had | been passed a large number of motor service companies would have been saved from bankuptcy. He believed that many of the taxi services running in competition with buses were simply using up their capital. This procedure invariably led to financial" difficulties. The Minister of Transport (the Right Hon. J. G. Coates), who has taken over the Bill from the ex-Minister (Mr. W. A. Veitch), said that a number of amendments wore being introduced, and in order to clarify the position he intended to have the measure reprinted. Mr. D. G. Sullivan (Labour, Avon): "Can the Minister give any indication of the amendments?" Mr. Coates said that it was impossible to outline the amendments at the present time, as another conference was being held on Saturday morning, when it was hoped that difficulties would be smoothed out. Mr. Sullivan: "Who are the parties to tho conference?" Mr. Coates: "Perhaps the hon. gentleman." The Bill was committed, but progress was reported immediately, and the discussion was adjourned.