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Hokitika Guardian, 25 January 1933, Page 4

It is not anticipated that any immediate action will be taken in the direction of gazetting the new regulaiona providing for the licensing of all goods service®, proposed under the Transport Licensing Act of 1931. These regulations were circulated for the information of those interested in motor transport last October, but on the representations of these interests the Government- agreed to withhold the regulations until they had boon furtive.]' considered. There lias been some agitation concerning the supposed effort of the Government to bring down regulations, involving the extension of harassing and unnecessary interference with the busiim-s of transport, by merely issuing an Order-jn-Oo'unci). Tim position, however, is that under Part 3 of the- Transport Licensing Act, IT,'ll, which relates to ■goods ren-W, the date of the coming into effect of this-' part of the Act aiml tlie administrative machinery for givr'g effect to its provisions wore left to Order-in-Council. Draft regulations were prepared, but the is-uc of the Order-in-Oonncil to bring them into force was deferred for the special purpose of allowing +l ->e suggested regulations to receive- full consideration by all concerned. When the regulations wore circulated for comments and constructive criticism the date for the receipt of such comment was fixed at November 30 and it was then thought

that the regulations would he made ■effective within a. few weeks of that date. Many of the companies operating goods services and some ol the local bodies prot.isted against tic proposal,-: a.ixl as others had not had the opportunity of co lsidering the regulations, requests were made that more time be given for their perusal. The Associated Chamber-,! of Commerce at AVelKngton suggested to the Government that the proposals were so farreaching that they should bo submitted to Parliament for (ous'ideiation in the form of a. bill of rcannabic and suitable character. Toward the end of Diecem.l.er the l executive of the New Zealand Road Transport Alliance conferred with the Minister of Transport, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, and the promise was then made that certain of the clauses to which objection had been taken would be redrafted and that a. further opportunity would he given of considering the regulations in their amended form. Generally tlie

Tt'gu'jp.tion.s propose to bring under control services operating for at least 15 miles on a main highway and services operating between the boundaries of . any two boroughs or town districts, provided these boundaries are more than 15 miles apart, measured along the shortest available public road. It is considered by those interested in the motor industry that the regulation cf goods transport is a much more difficult problem than the control of pauseruror services, ns it would be very difficult to devise a system that would confine the services to particular route? ard between given points, os i,s the case with passenger vehicles. It is generally agreed that some of tlie services operating will be eliminated, leaving the surviving service- with what will virtually be a monopoly. The duty of deciding on t-'« yen-vices to lie given the licences will fall irxiu the authority to be set up under the regulations, blit it is expected that once the regulations are gazetted, the authorite will hear evidence in support of the various °v —ill r *ante. One of the main objections to the regulations as fust issued was that they wore designed largely to protect the railways against competition from road transport, and t’m contention has been put forward that if for this purpose services are suppressed, the- Government -will lose revenue amounting to approximately £cp.o(lo in fees and taxation that jt will have to make up jn other ways, and tin's, point has been noon the Government. It is slated, however. that an assurance lms bemi riven that there is no intention, to do anything that will reduce the Government’s revenue, so that the final dr°ft- of the regulations is awaited with some interest.