The Development of Railway-owned Road Services.

Railways all over the world continue to pay the closest attention to the problem of road competition. At Home this competition has largely been met by the railways themselves embarking upon road transport for both passengers and freight. This arrangement appears to be the one which most of the world's railways are following, and from the United States, the page 19 Continent of Europe, India, and elsewhere, come reports of the rapid progress made in this direction. In most countries it has been found necessary to give railways government protection from the cut-throat and uneconomic competition of the road carriers. In Italy no motor service is allowed to compete with the railways. Hungary gives permission only for the operation of private road services where it is clear that such services would not clash with the existing railway services. In Germany and Austria, similar steps have been taken to protect the interests of the railways.

One of the most interesting records of the development of railway-owned road services comes from South Africa. The South African railways, like those of New Zealand, work to a gauge of 3ft. 6in., and much of the country traversed is not dissimilar to that found in New Zealand. The first regular railway-owned road motor service in South Africa was commenced after the Great War. Since then road motors have been extensively acquired by the South African Railways, and during the twelve months ended March 31st, 1929, the aggregate mileage run by these vehicles totalled 4,144,368. The number of passengers handled reached 1,450,552, and 112,791 tons of general merchandise and 577,825 gallons of cream were dealt with. There is a tremendous field for the development of railway-owned and operated road motors as feeders to the railway proper, and in New Zealand, the fullest use will, in course of time, doubtless be made of railway-owned road motors.