£8,000 a Year Lost

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 599, 27 February 1929, Page 8

£B,OOO a Year Lost

LAIRDS OR MARAEKAKAHO News comes of the death of Mr. Ewen Cameron, a pioneer Poverty Bay settler, who originally visited the district as a bullock-driver employed by Sir Donald McLean. In view of the recent death of Sir Douglas McLean, Sir Donald McLean’s only son, it is interesting to speculate upon the fate of Maraekakaho, the great Hawke’s Bay station, which built up the fortunes of the family. Originally covering 90,000 acres, the property was whittled down by subdivisions and benefactions of its owner, who played the Scottish laird by giving large slices of country to retainers who had been long in his service. But even within recent years there was still 40,000 acres left. The shearing shed had 40 stands, the largest number in New Zealand, and the station buildings looked like a township. Sir Douglas left no heir —his only son, an officer in the Black Watch, died as a result of his war service. It was Sir Douglas’s dearest wish that he should see the life of his father written before he died. He did not live to see the wish fulfilled, though Mr. James Cowan, the well-known historian, is at present at work on the book.

AT the end 01' March the bu: suburbs beyond the. city conducted by the Auckland Ci loss of £B,OOO a year, will I'l buses will go off the run. s( form’er. New trams and lillSt‘ Transport Board if the pcndi

THE story of the Henderson, Smith

A Street. Glen Eden and Hutchinson Avenue. bus routes constitutes not only a. record of commercial failure. but. illustrates clearly the determination of the Auckland City Council to have these suburbs served with trans-

port, even at heavy loss. It was only after prolonged litigation with the private bus company and extended negotiations with the Railway Department, that the council accepted the transfer, and took up the

running ot these four services on August 15, 1927. By the end of that year it was clear that the city was being involved in a heavy loss, and endeavours were made to secure the assistance of local authorities so that these districts might still he served without the whole of the cost being borne by the city. The council agreed to continue the runs until after the 1927 summer holidays, then until the Prime Minister had been approached, later until after the commission had heard the transport case, and finally until the proposal to form a transport board was definitely exploited. This series of delays led to the newly-formed transport board being shouldered with the burden and faced with the problem of its solution.

The hopelessness of continuing these services in existing conditions was recently announced by the board, and private enterprise was invited to apply for licences. Now the board has granted a licence, and a private concern will place 10 buses on the road

Buses Revert to Private Hands

.5 services to the four westcrn boundaries. which have been ity Council for 18 months at 21 'L‘VGI‘I to private hands. Ton 01110 of them to be scrapped es are to be purchased by tho .ing loans are sanctioned.

at the. end of March in an endeavour to convert. to a. profit an undertaking upon which the council lost £8.00!) a year.

The Henderson buses lost £4.000 a year, Glen- Eden £ 1,500, Smith Street £1,400 and Hutchinson Avenue nearly £1,400. Of the 106 buses which the City Council purchased originally from private enterprise a few years ago, 51 are still on the road, but many of them are in an advanced state of depreciation, and must be replaced at an early date. Provision for this is to be made. NEW BUSES AND TRAMS When the council purchased the bus undertakings of the city it did not take advantage of its power under the Act to raise money by special order to have the services acquired. Instead, the t ilue of the buses were placed in a separate account and arrangements made for -writing them off over a period of three years. This writing off will be complete by August of this year. The difference between the value of these vehicles and the other assets taken over—which the transport board chairman claims to be goodwill—is being written off over a period of 10 years. Many of the city buses are still rattling to ruin, and the board has to look ahead if the suburbs are to be served with transport. It is proposed to purchase 20 new buses for use on various routes, 10 of which are arranged for in the loan to be submitted to the ratepayers shortly. Every tram route in the city is short of ears, and at least 50 are to be purchased ty the transport board if the loan proposals are sanctioned. In this purchase will be included sufficient for supplementing the shortage cn existing routes as well as provision for the proposed extensions. BOARD MUST HURRY “The whole question is one of hurry,” the chairman of the transport board, Mr. J. A. C. AUum, says. “We have lost four or five valuable years, and we have to make it up as quickly as possible in order to restore the transport services to their adequate strength. Otherwise the travelling public of Auckland will suffer a great deal of inconvenience.” The change over of the western suburbs routes is accompanied by an apparent change of heart by the residents there. Frequent requests have been made by residents and local bodies during the past year to have the services transferred to private hands, but when the transport board decided ultimately to relinquish control of this losing undertaking, the local bodies which had asked for private services were the first to protest against the alteration. The new company will face an uphill in reducing to a profit-making basis an annual loss of £8,000; on the other hand it will be assisted by good roads and a growing population as well as a free hand for its own enterprise outside certain boundary limits.