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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 5 (September 1, 1928)

[section]

“In the long run, the form of transportation will survive that has the lowest economic cost for the service rendered. In passenger transportation, the railways will continue to take care of the long journey passenger, the overnight traffic between large cities and the mass movement of suburban passengers morning and evening. Railroad traffic will continue to increase in amount, and railroad capacity—in equipment, line and terminal—will be effectively utilised. It is not a question of survival of one and the downfall of the other. It is a question of finding the desirable economic balance, a fairly definite limitation of fields with wise co-ordination, so that each agency of transportation may function in both fields with the maximum efficiency.”

—Professor Cunningham of Harvard University.

Transport is a basic industry. I think it may be said that the growth of civilisation through the ages would not have been possible without it, nor could it be maintained without the means of safe and quick transit.

Again, the cost of living and the general comforts of existence are dependent almost entirely upon the facilities provided for the carriage of goods and produce from the producer to the consumer. In quite a number of cases, in fact, this service costs as much as the article itself.

It is interesting to look back a little to the time when the Romans, in order to maintain their rule in England, built the first roads there. Previous to this, there were only primitive track ways over which goods were transported by pack animals. As far as can be ascertained, these Roman roads were not added to for many centuries.

The “common carrier” made his appearance in the 14th century, at which time wagons, were used at a cost of 1d. per ton mile (which was about one day's wages for a labourer of that period). This rate of one day's wages per ton mile remained practically unaltered from 1260 to 1800, after which the rate was in the neighbourhood of 1s. per ton mile.

In 1555 an Act was passed throwing the responsibility of maintaining the highways on the then local bodies. Carriers of goods by vehicles gradually became more common there-after, until, in the 17th Century, vehicles were used for both passengers and luggage. This increase in traffic, however, commenced to damage the roads. The local bodies of those days, not being so altruistic as they are at present, let things go until the roads were practically impassable. Eventually a way out was found, the roads being farmed out to Turnpike Trusts, the first of which was established in 1663. Two centuries later there were 22,000 miles of roads maintained by a large number of Trusts. The turnpike rights were sold by auction, one, I believe (known as the Whetstone), paying £7,530 for such a right. These trusts, of course, mulcted the predecessor of the present motor car owner to pay for the roads, and also to provide a little more for contingencies. As usual, the good thing was pushed to its limit and ended in riots and the destruction of the gates.

The roads, however, had a competitor when an Act was passed in 1759 to build the first canal. Other canals were subsequently built. They carried bulk traffic and co-operated with the road transport which at best was slow and inconvenient for bulk carriage.

Definite passenger coaches with spring slung bodies came into being in 1754 and continued until supplanted by railways, the first of which page 43 was laid down between Stockton and Darlington, and opened in 1825.

It is interesting to note that it was only after a number of years that railways became common carriers themselves. Originally Railway companies were only empowered to provide a track on which any person could run a vehicle on payment of tolls. The roads promptly started to deteriorate with the growth of railways, and, with the disappearance of the Turnpike Trusts, reverted again to local control.