COUNCIL NOT TRUSTED

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 429, 10 August 1928, Page 16

COUNCIL NOT TRUSTED

TROUBLES OVER TRANSPORT

WHY MR. POTTER OPPOSED ACT

When asked by an interjector at Mt. Eden last evening why he opposed the Motor Omnibus Traffic Act in the House of Representatives, Mr. V. H. Potter, Reform member for Roskill, said he did not trust the Auckland City Council to carry the Act out faithfully. He believed the Act to be a good one if properly administered.

“I opposed the Act as any sane and sensible man would have done in the circumstances,” Mr. Potter explained, “and yet I believe the regulations are the best in the Dominion. I opposed them because I could not trust the City Council to fulfil them. (Applause.) “We were led to believe by the City Council witnesses before the Parliamentary Committee that the City Council would give an adequate service if the Act were brought into operation. A voice: Did you believe that? Mr. Potter: I have just told you I did not believe it. If the City Council had carried into effect the things they led the committee to believe they would, there would not have been any trouble. “I do not condemn the Act, but I condemn the City Council.” A voice: But nearly all the City Councillors are Reformers. Mr. Potter: That shows they have brains in at least one direction. The voice: But you would not trust them after that! Mr. Potter: I admitted the law was a good one if faithfully administered. But the City Council would not fulfil its moral obligations because they were not in black and white. “The City Council will never carry these regulations into effect unless the outside local bodies compel them to. But now the fight is on, and we will see what the outside local bodies are going to do, and we will see what the people will do at the next elections.” An interjector asked: Do you consider it good government to appoint a bogus water commission and a bogus transport commission? Mr. Potter: It depends upon the aspect from which you view it. I agree with you that the reports were bad ones, but others might say they were all right because they went the way they wanted to go. They probably consider the thousands of pounds well spent to get the verdict they wanted. The Government acted only upon the wishes of the Auckland public.