“Adequate Transport”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 179, 19 October 1927, Page 8

“Adequate Transport”

SERVICE TO EVERY CORNER

Design of Motor Omnibus Act

HAD it not been impressed upon members of Parliament, by the committee, that the local licensing authority would be responsible for an adequate transport service m the outer areas, the Motor Omnibus Act would not have received tlieir support.” Thus Mi-. Vivian Potter, M.P. for Koskill, summarises the contentions set out in a reply to Mr. Blood worth, who has suggested that no promises as to maintenance of services were made when the City Council was asking for protection from competing transport systems.

In a series of quotations from the remarks of members of the Parliamentary Committee, Mr. Potter supplies evidence that those men, at least, were firmly of opinion that the local body to which a monopoly was conceded should shoulder the responsibility for the transport services of all adjacent communities. “The general public,” says Mr. Potter, “can form its own conclusions after reading these statements.”

The first quotation is clause 10 of the report presented to Parliament by the Motor Omnibus Regulations Committee- —- "That the licensing authority should be under obligation to see that adequate transport service, either by trams or motor omnibus, is provided, and suggests that if 10 per cent, of the inhabitants in any district desiring a service present a petition to the licensing authority, requesting such authority to see that such service is supplied, then in default of the supply of the service, there should be an inquiry made as to the reasonableness of the application. The finding arrived at as the result of the inquiry should be given effect to.” TO OUTLYING PARTS

Mr. E. P. Lee, in summing up the committee’s finding, stated:

“All these local authorities have had it impressed upon them by the committee that if they are to have what is practically a monopoly, they must take the responsibility of giving a general service all round, even to outlying parts of the district. They must not think that because one little corner does not pay the people should be left without a service. To-day they are asking for control, and they

are, all of them, undertaking to give adequate service not only on the main central routes, but to the whole of the people in the districts which are under their control; and it is not an unfair thing that they should be asked to supply this general service. While making these remarks, I feel satisfied that the desire of the committee is that the employees of the present private motor-bus undertakings should be given an opportunity to operate the buses which will be put on by the local authorities.” Mr. Lee added, also, that the local bodies would be expected tct conserve the interests of body-builders and others who -were engaged in legitimate industries dependent on the preservation of the bus services, and that the Government was giving the local bodies an opportunity to establish proper services. If they failed to do so it would not be the last word so far as the Government was concerned. That was the reason why provision had been made for the establishment of a service if 10 or more per cent, of the people concerned expressed a desire for it. OTHER OPINIONS Mr. M. J. Savage stated: “The recommendation of the committee is to place the onus on the licensing authority of supplying services as they are required by the citizens, or to show good reasons for not supplying them on petitions being received.” The Hon. F. J. Rolleston: “The other obligation the committee thought should be imposed on the municipality was that, in consideration of its having control of the transport service, it should be under a corresponding obligation to provide adequate service for the people. The evidence that the municipalities were ready to undertake these obligations was clearly stated last week. It was. I think, clearly proved that every municipality that had given evidence before the committee had definitelv stated that it would undertake those obligations.” Mr. H. E. Holland. M.P.; “The local body responsible must provide an adequate service at a reasonable charge.” Mr. P. Fraser, M.P.: “The committee saw that under a monopoly there was a danger of some localities in and around cities finding themselves at a disadvantage, and it provided in its recommendations against that possibility.” FAR-SIGHTED LEGISLATOR Mr. R. Smith (Waimarino) was apparently the only Parliamentarian who foresaw the present situation. “If this Bill becomes law,” he said, “those people (in the suburbs) are going to lose some of the excellent services they enjoy to-day. . . . It is too much up in the air for people to depend upon. The Bill merely provides that reasonable fares shall be charged, and reasonable services given, but that is as far as it goes. There is no definite guarantee that either of those conditions is going to he complied with.” is no definite guarantee that either of these conditions is going to be complied with.”