J. A. C. ALLUM.]

43

1.—15.

You work in harmony ?—Perfectly. You say that the work of the Board has been appreciated ?—That is perfectly correct. You say, " The Act provided that it should not come into operation unless approved by resolution of the Auckland City Council." That was done, I take it ? —That was done. And has been carried by a big majority ? —By about six to one. In view of the fact that the bus company is now favouring the proposed amendment we have before us, what would you say is the cause of their action ? You say they have been well treated and are generally satisfied with the Board's work : then, why are they favouring the present amendment ? —I imagine that they accepted the referendum of the people, and that the establishment of the Transport Board commended itself to the public ; but naturally, as private traders, they want to get everything they can for themselves and to cut into our revenue and weaken our position, and they see in this Bill a means of doing it. Did these bus companies offer any objection to the Auckland Transport Board Act being instituted ? —The only point they raised was with regard to the clause to protect the then-existing licenses, and the city and suburban representatives agreed to that clause. But, of course, there was no intention of interfering with their licenses, and no further representations were made. You have been working in harmony since, and there was no desire to interfere with the licenses ? — None at all. Does the present Act prevent the buses from operating against the Board ?—Most certainly it does. So that you consider if another Board were set up it might jeopardize the protection you now have ? —Certainly ; the protection would not then exist. If there is a certain amount of dissatisfaction in some of the principal outer areas with the services, do you say that the Transport Board should not be ready to improve or institute those services ?— Most certainly it should, where justified. The Auckland Transport Board has given an adequate and reasonable service in all districts ; and I make that definite statement, which is capable of being investigated by any competent person, who will undoubtedly support it. It is admitted, of course, that the present services are not in all cases 100 per cent, satisfactory. We know it quite well, and I know it; but we are making every effort to remedy the position at the earliest possible date. In certain districts feeder buses are operating with the tram service ; but the Board is replacing the feeder buses with trams as rapidly as it can, and in a short time those people who are now suffering inconvenience, through the transfer from feeder bus to trams will be able to travel right through to their destination in the one vehicle. The position, I take it, is that the local body can effectively carry out the service, but without preference it cannot do so. I have been told on several occasions that everything in connection with the service provided by the Auckland Transport Board is not efficient. Is that correct? —It all depends 011 who makes the statement, because some who make such assertions cannot be regarded as people of any standing. If they were made by competent persons we would be disturbed ; but I know that no competent person would make such a statement. We had a Commission of Inquiry, which definitely stated that the services carried on by the City Council were efficient. How long ago was that ? —The middle of last year, and that was the Commission's finding as placed on record. The Chairman.'] How was it constituted ? —Mr. Barton, S.M. (Chairman), and Mr. W. G. T. Goodman —his name stands first in connection with transport matters in New Zealand and Australia ; and the other member was Mr. Edwards, of Sydney, a member of the Police Department. Mr. Ansell.] Was that Mr. Goodman of Noyes Bros. ?—Yes ;he was associated with that company some twenty years ago, and put in the Dunedin and the Adelaide trams. You suggest an alteration in the definition of " omnibus " ?—Yes. Have you noticed within the last few days a published statement that a Magistrate has suggested that " nine and over " should constitute an omnibus ?—No. It seems fairly reasonable. You seem to fear competition from cars or taxis. Was it reasonable in Auckland ? Is that the position ?—lt is ; but it was more in the matter of the North Shore where it was serious. Do you think that the car and the taxi can compete with buses as far as fares are concerned ? — The difference is between " can " and " will." Our experience is that people will compete whether they can do it or not. These men operate without a bit of regard to economics—simply run a service; whether it pays or not is another story. Mr. Harris asked a question regarding goodwill. You claim that goodwill was actually paid ?— Undoubtedly. Taking the difference between what we considered the value of the asset, and what the private operators claimed, there was a sum of a little over £15,000 left, which represented nothing. You paid £15,000 more than the value you received ? —Not in excess of what we say was the value received, but what was in excess of the average value. We did not take our values, but the mean between the value we placed on their vehicles and assets and what the owners placed on them, and the difference was £15,000. We placed that sum to a special account and are writing it off over a period of ten years. The Chairman.'] What did you purchase ?■—What we were compelled to do by the Court. In some cases we made no difficulty about it —we merely went to Court and settled matters up ; but in several cases the Court award was clearly a surplusage. Mr. Ansell.] I would like to clear up a point with regard to the compensation, because the suggestion was made, I think, by Mr. Meredith yesterday that a portion of this compensation clause could be wiped out. This is the part : " Concerning the amount of compensation, the claimant shall not be regarded as having enjoyed any exclusive or preferential right or privilege with respect to the