MOTORS V. RAILWAYS.

Otaki Mail, 20 January 1922, Page 3

MOTORS V. RAILWAYS.

ROADS AND BRIDGES DAMAGED. Notice has been given by Mr TV. H. Field (Otaki) to ask the Minister of Railways whether he is aware that the competition, recently referred to by the member for Manawatu, of motor-lorries with the railways in the Manawatu district is on the increase, and is not only reducing the railway revenue, but is causing serious loss and embarrassment to local bodies and ratepayers by cutting up the main roads and straining the bridges thereon to such an extent that it is found impossible to keep these highways in repair; and whether the Government cannot, by the reduction of freights or otherwise, provide a remedy for this condition of things. Mr Field states that large motortrucks, laden chiefly with benzine, weighing in many cases upwards of 7 tons in all, are to be seen daily going north along tho main road through the Hutt, Makara, and Horowhonua counties, and returning laden with wool, butter, and other produce, and are contributing nothing whatever to the upkeep of this highway. The position is rendered more acute by tho fact that these local bodies not long since had to bear the hugo financial burden of keeping this main road in repair during the railway cut, when the road was cut to pieces by heavy motor traffic.