TRANSPORT ACT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 71, Issue 37, 23 November 1950, Page 5

TRANSPORT ACT

DEBATE IN LORDS DEFEAT FOR GOVERNMENT (Special Correspondent—N.Z.P. A.). (Rec. 8.10 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 22. Conservatives and Liberals joined in the Houne of Lords to defeat the Government for the first time this session on a private Bill to amend the Transport Act. Despite the Act, the Lords voted by 65 to 32 in favour of extending the radius of operations by short-distance hauliers from 25 miles to 60 miles, and of transferring to a licensing authority certain powers of the Transport Commission relating to permits. Permits to exceed the 25 miles limit at present are granted by the Road Transport Commission created by the Government. The commission, which has, taken over long-distance transport, competes with these private men. Under the Bill permits would be issued by an unfettered licensing authority. Lord Teynham, who introduced the Bill, said the commission’s aim to “strike down independent hauliers is a complete travesty of justice.” The Government was squeezing them out in an effort to eliminate •efficient com: petition.

The Parliamentary Secretary of the Transport Ministry, Lord Lucas, replied that the new Bill would completely wreck the Transport Act and jettison taxpayers’ interests in favour of sectional ones.

The Leader of the House, Lord Addison, said the Bill would “pick out the most profitable part of the transport business and . make it impossible for the commission to get benefit from it.”