TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19891, 21 May 1936, Page 10

TRANSPORT SYSTEM

l FURTHER VIEWS (,IVLN. l a» iSTATE 0R PRIVATE ENTERPRISE l POWER OF THE MINISTERI WELLINGTON. \\‘ednesday. l The respective merits of state en« ltet‘prise and private enterprise formed ‘the main theme of the second reading ldebotc on the Transport Licensing lAlnendtnent Bill which was continued ‘in thc liouse of Representatives last ‘ night. ’ t in the co—ordination and control of transport New Zealund compared more flimn favourably with the rest of the world, maintained .\lr \\'. .i. Broadfoot ttopposition—“attomoj. It was the Itiovcrnment's function to control =transpot'l, but not to step in and take :uvel‘ all services to itself. “ People ’must not be misled by the catch—phrase that transport is a public service and not an industry," Mr Broadi'oot re—marked. " 11’ it is treated as a social .sEI‘VIL'E the public exchequer can be Epillaged to make it pay." 1 Under the propoeai to reduce the number 01‘ transport districts to four land place one man in control of licensinsr for each district, said Mr Broad—ifoot. the position would arise or delcisions being made by four depart-t xmental otticers who were under the {direct control of the .\liniste‘r, who ‘ihimseif would be the final court of lappeai. They would all four forc‘gather with-the Minister and as]; what he “allied to be done- Tiiey \\'ould ascertain his viewpoint. and carry out his tbehests purely as automatons. ‘ i, . "A Synthetic Caesar." ‘ | “ The Minister win not possibly be tablevto attend to all the appeal work under the Bill,“ .\lr Broadwot contin< ued. “ The .job will be done by some ldepartmental otticer and it is a; thous~ land to one that the Minister will never see the eyidence in any appeal sent on to him for his decision. But he can—not .be challenged. He is the all high-‘ est; he is a. synthetic Caesar. Even Caesar‘s best friend. Brutus. destroyed him, and under the Bill the Minister’s best triend, the Minister of Railways, is given power to destroy him. The Minister of Transport can be dominated by the Minister of Railways." .\lr J. A. Lee (Government—Grey Lynn), devoted most of his time to a criticism of the speech made last night .by the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates (Opposition—Kaipara). "I can be excused if I neglect the sprat from Waitomo, for I want to go for the mackerel from Kaipara," said Mr Lee. .\lr Coates, added Mr Lee, had con—demned the Bill as s‘ocialistic. No one was deterred to—day by the .use of the term socialist. .\lr Coates' condemned the present legislation, but conveni—ently forgot what was done by the Government of which he was a leading member. ”A Political flaunt" “ Can it be said the existing Trance port Co-ordination Board is non-poli-tical?" asked Mr Lee. “I have noth< ing against the estimable gentlemen , who have been members of that board, lbut let us see how non-political they lwere. Sir Stephen Allen is an exanthSocialist candidate and certainly l he has shown no desire to assist the . Labour Party. Mr H. B. s. Johnstone is a squatter, and Mr Lisle Anderton is chairman of a Reform organisation. Even if the squatter were a socialist, and that is not likely, the politicians had a majority on the board. ”If a person is a member of the Reform organisation, then he acts in i the public interest, actuated by noble [ motives, but if he is socialisticaily in—- | clined and only giving effect to a policy he pledged himself before the people to put into operation, we are told it is political control." Preference for the control of trans—port. by an independent board rather than by a Minister was expressed by Mr R. A. “Tight (Independent—Welltington Suburbs). He said it was a {dangerous principle to allow a .\lin—ister of any Government to assume full and complete control of transport. State control of transport was defended by Mr \\’. J. Lyon (Government—\Vaitemata). The Bill, be said. was one of the milestones along the path of progress, whereby science and human ingenuity could be linked to—gether for the benefit of the people as a Whole. The debate was adjourned at £0.15 pm.