Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1940. ECONOMY IN TRANSPORT.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 August 1940, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1940. ECONOMY IN TRANSPORT.

TX creatin'*' and emphasising an urgent need for economy wherever it is practicable and most of all in those branches of industry and enterprise which depend to a considerable degree on imported supplies which have to be paid lor in foreign currency, the war obviously has established the Minister of Transport (Mr Semple) in a strong position where. his policy and plans for the rationalisation of carrying services are concerned. It must in fact be recognised that the war has made imperatively urgent and necessary measures of transport co-ordination and economy for which there was in any ease a good deal to be said. The conservation of petrol and an economical use of motor transport represent an undoubted contribution to the winning of the war. Since they are at the same time, if efficiently directed, an assured means of making transport costs lower than they otherwise would be, it evidently need not be regretted that war demands have brought them into the forefront of practical policy. In outlining once again his plans for the progressive and economical reorganisation of transport industry, -Mr Semple has stressed the Government’s desire that the carrying industry shall reorganise itself so as to overcome the disadvantages of many small independent units. The Minister, as he is reported, put forward three alternative proposals to bring about the reorganisation, namely, zoning of operations, formation of central depots, and • formation of merger companies, but pointed out that he had no desire to force any particular method of co-ordination on the industry. Where, however, action was desirable and was not taken, the licensing authorities would utilise their powers under the Transport Act to secure the desired result. Acknowledging assurances of co-operation he has received from representative executives of both town carriers and area operators, and disclaiming any desire to assume the role of a dictator. the Minister at the same time makes it clear that in war conditions the economical reorganisation of transport industry must be speeded up. The Government’s policy is, broadly (he said) to have goods carried by the railways in preference to motor trucks wherever this can be done without seriously interfering with national production and to see that each gallon of petrol used in motor trucks yields the greatest possible transport service. Much as they commend themselves to common sense, from the point of view of the interests of the body of consumers who ultimately pay all transport costs, proposals of this kind provoke an “up and at ’em” response in some minds on the ground that an attack is involved on private enterprise and on free competition. That some subordination of free enterprise and competition is.implied in.the economical co-ordination of transport is not to be denied, but if the real merits of a question of this kind are to be determined it must be examined dispassionately in all its aspects. Even those who believe most ardently in unhampered enterprise and unrestricted competition are bound to ask themselves whether, at a long and comprehensive view, any interest can be served by allowing the carriage by road of goods which might be carried more economically and advantageously by rail, or by allowing so many motor trucks to run in given services that some of them must run, more or less frequently, empty or partly empty. It is possible that in these conditions some people may get their goods carried very cheaply, perhaps at less than cost. But for the community at large, the wasteful equipment and organisation of transport industry is bound to work out in unduly high transport costs (one of the items entailed being needlessly high railway deficits). For many transport operators, too, these conditions mean poor remuneration or bankruptcy. There is a complete ease for the co-ordination of transport —not merely road transport, but road, rail and other forms of transport—in time of war or in time of peace. Co-ordination means nothing else than using and relying upon the best and cheapest method of conducting any and every branch of transport service. The only real problem raised concerns the most equitable and advantageous methods of bringing co-ordination into effect. It is certainly desirable that transport operators should co-operate with the public authorities to that end, but there are other interests also to be safeguarded. In the extent to which competition is limited or excluded in transport service, precautions may be necessary in the interests both of those who may desire to engage in the industry and of the. community which the industry exists to serve. Some rather difficult problems centre on the regulation of rates and charges. With many small operators now engaged in the industry, mergers might well take a co-operative form, leading to the establishment of an organisation which individuals might enter or leave on equitable terms. In some instances working operators have pooled their undertakings with advantage to themselves and to the public whom they serve. A wide and general extension of this policy, together with an economical co-ordination of road and rail transport, holds valuable possibilities. In the extent to which war pressure on. the national economy hastens well-considered development on these lines, benefits will be derived which will continue when the war is over. FINANCIAL HELP FOR SOLDIERS. ()N the facts stated by the -Minister of Finance (Air Nash) in a review of the operations to date of the Soldiers’ Financial Assistance Board, where soldiers require assistance to meet their civil commitments, it is apparent that, this assistance is being rendered only on a very limited scale. Mr Nash said he wished to correct an impression that the.board would make up any deficiency in income resulting from the change from civil to military status. The primary object was to assist members of the forces who, through undertaking military service were unable to meet, from their military pay and other resources, reasonable and norma] requirements. The assistance which the board was empowered to grant (he added) covered a wide field embracing such items as rent, interest in respect Of loans or mortgages or in respect of agreements for the purchase of homes, rates and taxes, instalments on furniture or other chattels, insurance premiums, and other necessary expenses. The scope of the board’s operations did not. however, include principal repayments on mortgages. This is a fairly wide and comprehensive basis, but the scale of actual assistance granted appears to be by comparison rather slender. 'Die Minister stated, for example, that the latest figures available indicated that 810 applications for assistance had been finalised, involving the authorisation on an annual basis of assistance to the extent of £7567 5s 3d. This works out at an average of approximately £9 9s per applicant. If in some instances the sum is larger, it must in. others be less. Aliieli more liberal assistance was granted through the agency of the. Soldiers’ Financial Assistance Board in the last war, though not, it is true, until the war had been in progress for some considerable time. Financial assistance to the extent of nine guineas per annum would be absorbed in paying the premiums on a life insurance policy of a few hundred pounds or in paying rates on a small residential property. Il would go but a little way towards paying interest on a mortgage covering any substantial part of the cost of a home. If is clear that assistance restricted to the scale indicated may in many instances entail heavy sacrifices on the part of soldiers and their families. This may become apparent even in the case of single men, some of whom have obligations to parents and other dependants ami may, for instance carry life insurance policies to an amount fully justified by their civil earnings but incapable of being sustained out of their military pay. Where married men are concerned, there does iml seem to be any doubt that the present scale of assistance is inadequate.