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C.O.882/12

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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is clearer. It must be recollected that, although the passenger traffic has very greatly declined, the Railway even now carries an appreciable number of persons, the number of tickets sold last year being about 2,300,000. There are still a number of persons who, for various reasons, find the Railway more convenient, and it is not certain that this minimum level of steady traffic is not now being approached. It is not without interest in this con- nexion that the passenger traffic for the last two months has shewn a slight but perceptible upward tendency, though this may be due to accidental causes, and I lay no stress upon the point. There are, however, certain considerations in connexion with the maintenance of passenger services, at any rate for the time being, which are further dealt with below.

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10. In the first place it must be realized that a sudden cessation of passenger services on all except the Curepipe Port Louis section is likely to cause great inconvenience as sufficient road vehicles are not available to cope with the increase in road traffic and, under present conditions, capital to provide the additional vehicles will not easily be found. The actual cost of operating bus services and the profits to be made are a matter of controversy as to which no really conclusive data are available. It is constantly argued that most of the buses are in fact operating at a loss, and it is true that there are numerous failures among owners. appears, however, to be an ever ready supply of fresh adventurers prepared to enter the business, provided they can obtain credit for the necessary buses. It is significant, however, that with the exception of one Indian operator, the larger and better organized passenger bus services have dropped out. The cessation of Rail. way services would therefore place the passenger road traffic in the hands of a large number of unorganized individual small owners, and I feel strongly that before this is done, steps should at any rate be taken to establish a closer control over road services in order to secure that the public are adequately served on the different routes and fares controlled, and that traffic is not concentrated only on the more populous routes with the result that cut-throat com- petition on those routes would probably bring about constant fluctuations in the services available while the less populous routes will be inadequately served with unsatisfactory vehicles at higher rates. An attempt to establish this control is being made under the provisions of the Road Transport Ordinance authorized by your telegram No. 10 of 1931, which was recently passed and comes into operation on 1st October. I think a short experience of the operation of this Ordinance is advisable before it is definitely decided whether passenger services on the Northern and Mahebourg- Souillac-Curepipe sections of the Railway should be entirely abandoned.

* C. 84530/31 [No. 2]; not printed,

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11. It appears to me that if in future all passenger traffic is to be confined to the roads and the alternative of the much safer form of travel by rail is withdrawn, stricter measures will be necessary to ensure the safety of the travelling public. The tale of road accidents at present is not in my opinion excessive, but with the increase in traffic which the cessation of Railway services would involve, it is likely to become greater, and safety consideration will, I think, undoubtedly involve a considerable outlay on the part of Government and local authorities in the provision of side- walks on congested sections of road, and other provisions for the greater safety of pedestrians. The Road Traffic Ordinance also requires that all public vehicles should be insured against third- party risks, a precaution which I think should be insisted upon in any case, and is all the more necessary where no alternative means of public transport is available. It may quite possibly be found that the insistence upon reasonable measures of safety will tend either to reduce the number of vehicles on the road or to lead to an increase in fares. Either of these consequences would result in the diversion of more traffic to the Railway.

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12. I may point out that the Road Traffic Ordinance is not attempt to force third-class passenger traffic on to the Railway by the action of a Transport Directorate ", a policy with which the Commissioners express emphatic disagreement in paragraph 4 of Chapter X of their report. The proposal to which the Com- missioners object had never in fact been adopted, and a fuller inquiry would have revealed to them that the present proposals are confined to the establishment of more adequate control over road services in the interest of public safety and convenience. It seems quite possible, however, that it may be found by experience that insistence upon reasonable precautions and control in the case of road traffic may have the effect of diverting some of the road traffic back to the Railway. If it is a fact that road trans- port under the conditions in this Colony must always be cheaper than rail, then I agree that passenger transport by rail must dis- appear, but I am not yet fully convinced that this is the case. The cost to the public of the increased policing of roads and other supervision of road services and of increased upkeep charges for roads, permanent bridges, etc., may well be found to be consider- able if all traffic is concentrated on the roads and operated under reasonably safe and satisfactory conditions. The margin in either case is a narrow one, and should it prove to be the case that the concentration of all traffic on the roads involved an increase in public expenditure of say Rs.200.000 per annum, the economic advantage of discontinuance of rail passenger services would have disappeared so far as the Treasury is concerned, while the additional charges which it might then be necessary to impose on licensed vehicles would very probably result in an increase in fares which would go far to discount the advantage to the public. It is true