TRANSPORT COSTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 May 1939, Page 6

TRANSPORT COSTS

DISCUSSION AT FARMERS' CONFERENCE. REFERENCE TO ANOMALIES. “During the last three years transport costs have increased 80 per cent and they will continue to increase, - ’ observed Mr J. Birch during a discussion on transport cost yesterday at the Inter-Provincial Conference of the Farmers’ Union. “The carriers,” he added, “are making profits out of proportion to the value of the stock carried. The farmers are working completely in the dark.’’ The chairman, Mr Lloyd Hammond, said farmers were being undermined to the extent of hundreds of pounds. The farmers were paying the piper. Mr J. Kilgour said there was no reason why farmers should pay to keep lorries on the road just because the Licensing Authority granted the operators licences. Mr W. J. Thomas described the existing transport tariff schedules as most absurd. It looked as though the transport authorities were working one district against another. . . A delegate: “That is right. They are bluffing.” It was decided that all possible data be collected and pooled among the provinces so that the Union could speak to the Transport Alliance with a united voice. A request is also to be made that, in view of anomalies in the tariff schedule, the schedule be revised immediately.