TRANSPORT MINISTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3699, 4 October 1927, Page 2

TRANSPORT MINISTRY.

NEW PROPOSALS ELABORATED PROBLEM OF MAKING BOTH ENDS MEET. The suggestions in the Railway Statement regarding the establishment of a Ministry of Transport were elaborated by the Prime Min 7 ister (Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates) when the Railway Estimates were under discussion in the Hohse of Representatives on Saturday morning. Mr. Coates said that such'a Ministry existed in some other countries. It was an office in which was centralised all information and data —a bureau which collected information in regard to all means of. transport. In the bureau all the information was collected and statistics were sorted out, the information being given to the different Departments concerned. It was not necessarily one man, hut might consist of more. REASONS FOR ESTABLISHMENT. Mr. Coates proceeded to give reasons for the establishment of such an office. In regard to passengers, the railways carried 1,500,000 fewer than in the previous year, and they had about 1,050,000 fewer passenger fares than in the previous year. That was an indication of the trend of the times. It was not necessarily the result of competition by omnibuses, but they knew that the individually-owned motorcar must have an effect upon the railway traffic. They saw the effect of the motor bus traffic, for instance, in the state of the Ilutt railway service. In fact, in all the cities the same conditions prevailed. The severe competition was forcing the suburban railway business into a very difficult position. Some would say that that did not matter, but he said it did matter. If the railways continued to show losses and business fell off the country would sooner or later be faced with a difficult problem, the problem of making both ends meet. They must have some means by which they could co-ordinate the traffic so that the huge publicly-owned concern might give a full return for its cost.