H.—4o

(e) Public-works and Local-body Contractors. Details of the finances and statistics for public-works and local-body contractors are set out in Tables Nos. 28 and 29. The average operating-costs for public-works and local-body contractors total 11 *77d. per vehicle-mile, while revenue averages 13-26 d. per vehicle-mile, giving a profit of l-49d. A study of the detailed figures shows that the main variation between the operating-costs tor general cartage and public-works cartage comes in the items "Wages and depreciation." With the general operators wages per vehicle-mile average 4-1 Id., against 4'76d. for the contractors, while depreciation for the former averages lT7d., against l - 33d. for the latter. " This is to be expected partly because the average mileage on the contract work is lower, 12,365 miles against 14,209 miles, and partly because of the larger proportion of standing-time to runningtime than is usual amongst general-goods operators. (/) Mail Contractors. Tables Nos. 30 and 31 set out the relative data for this group. The large majority of vehicles in this group are small cars, and this is reflected in the average operating-costs per vehicle-mile of 5-14 d. The average mileage per vehicle is higher than for any of the other groups, being 18,738 miles, against 14,209 miles for the general operators and 12,365 miles for the contractors. As with the passenger services largely engaged on mail cartage, this group shows a loss on the year's operations. It is interesting to compare the figures for the passenger and goods contractors, and the comparative figures are set out hereunder : —

Generally for the carriage of passengers somewhat larger vehicles are used on the passenger-mail runs. 0. TAXI-CAB OPERATIONS. Following on representations received from interested parties, the taxi services in Hamilton and Thames were brought under the provisions of the Transport Act on the 9th December, 1938. Twenty-three applications were received for taxi licenses, of which 21 were granted and 2 refused. Similar conditions to those placed on the Christchurch taxis, as mentioned in last year's report, were included in the licenses granted. So far as the taxis in the Christchurch Metropolitan Area are concerned, 77 of the services came up for renewal during the year. The only change made was the reduction of the number of cabs licensed, from 138 to 131. Four applications for new licenses were received, 2 being granted and 2 refused, while 14 applications for transfer were considered, 11 being granted and 3 refused. At the close of the year there were 78 licenses in force, a-uthorizing the use of 132 cabs. No financial figures for 1938-39 are available owing to this report being required much earlier than usual. D. CO-ORDINATION OF LONG-DISTANCE FREIGHT SERVICES. Further steps were taken during the year in connection with the purchase by the State of some 54 long-distance motor-freight services competing with the railways. The Tribunal set up for the purpose of making recommendations to the Government regarding the purchase-price and other cognate matters had by 31st March, 1939, made recommendations in all but two of the services concerned, and by the same date the Railways Department had actually taken over some 47 of the services. It is anticipated that in due course the utmost co-ordination possible between rail and. road services over the routes affected will be brought about with beneficial results on the Dominion's burden of national transport costs.

53

Goods-mail Passenger-mail Services. Services. d. d. d. d. Running-costs .. .. •• 1*96 2-53 Standing charges Wages .. •• •• •• 2-24 2-16 Depreciation.. . • • • • • 0-54 0-60 Otter charges .. .. ■■ 0-21 0-59 2-99 3-35 Overhead charges .. .. ■■ 0-19 0-28 Costs per vehicle-mile .. .. 5 "14 6-16 Revenue per vehicle-mile .. .. 4-87 6-09 Loss per vehicle-mile .. •• 0-27 0-07