Appealing, comprehensive history of New Zealand’s road transport industry

Road’s the Mode

The Story of New Zealand’s Road Transport Industry

By Jenny Haworth - Wily Publications Ltd. NZ$64.99 (Hard); $49.99 (Soft)

            

Road’s the Mode is a comprehensive history of New Zealand’s road transport industry. It focuses not so much on the companies, but on the battles the industry has fought with government, the railways and the unions as it struggled to achieve recognition as an essential mode of transport.

Author Jenny Haworth traces the development of this industry from its earliest days when trucks served only a small district around their home base. Cut-throat competition led to wide-ranging control under the first Labour government and this continued after World War II as various governments tried to protect the line haul rights of the railways. Part of this story is how clever operators managed to circumvent these regulations.

In these early years road transport was an industry of regional differences as small localised companies responded to the needs of their local area.  These companies are fondly remembered by the communities they served.

It wasn’t until the 1980s that road transport industry was freed from many of the restrictions that had inhibited its growth. Over the next few years many companies became national rather than regional carriers.  Smaller carriers found it difficult to compete and so the whole configuration of the industry changed.  This is not a book about individuals or companies but it places them within the wider context of the development of the whole industry

In recent years improved technology and research both of the roads and trucks has made this industry much safer. Much of this has come from the industry organisations and this improving technology is part of the story of Road’s the Mode.

So to are the continuing battles with the government. The industry has long regarded itself as overtaxed. Sudden changes in taxation led in 2008 to the largest truck protest every seen in this country

Road’s the Mode reveals the achievements, disappointments, frustrations, and successes in dealing with a bureaucracy who at first was determined to maximise its investment in rail and then to make sure that industry paid for much more than the roads its trucks ran on.

This book is a tribute to the many individuals, who, as a part of the industry, gave freely of their expert knowledge and time. Their stories are woven into the main theme of the book – a developing industry.

Road’s the Mode is an essential read for everyone who wants to know where the industry has come from and where it might be headed. It shows how the industry has made significant progress over a relatively short period of time.  You will also be surprised at how the industry has changed and how some of the problems that it faces today are those that it has faced in the past.  History has had a habit of repeating itself.

I found the book iespecially intetesting as my father was in the transport industry, Nicols Transport Ltd. in Gisborne, in which he and a number of returned men from WW2 got rehabilitation loans to become the owner/drivers of the trucks. There is a whole chapter in the book on this period and another on the transport industry's battle with rail which was hugely protected by various governments until the 1970's.

This book is lavishly illustrated with more than 150 pictures, both black and white and colour. These tell the story of the industry and its developing technology. An important piece of publishing on an important aspect of our domestic industrial history.

About the author:

Jenny Haworth is a well-known non-fiction writer. After a career as a journalist and a travel writer, she started to work on longer projects especially those associated with an industry. Here three books on the fishing industry: Hooked: the story of the New Zealand fishing industry (which she completed with David Johnson), Tides of Change: the story of the New Zealand Federation of Commercial Fishermen and Swimming Upstream: How Salmon Farming Developed in New Zealand are all highly regarded. 

She has also produced a major study on New Zealand’s World War II commissioned artists, The Art of War. 

She is currently working on a companion volume on the New Zealand artists of World War I which should be ready for the centennial next year. She also just completed a history of the Canterbury Club –Behind Closed Doors.

Footnote:
The road transport industry would appear to be in good heart with new truck sales up 35% in January and February compared to last year.