THE TAKAPUNA COUNCIL.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 137, 11 June 1926, Page 8

THE TAKAPUNA COUNCIL.

NOT AN AUTHORITY, CANNOT LICENSE BUSES. INTERIM INJUNCTION GRANTED. An interim injunction to restrain the Mayor and councillors of the Takapuna Borough Council from acting as an authority for the licensing of motor buses under the regulations which came into force yesterday, brought by Alfred Hendry Smith, motor bus proprietor Takapuna, before Mr. Justice Stringer in chambers yesterday afternoon was granted. The injunction will remain in force until a further order of the Court is made. It restrains the defendants from hearing or determining or otherwise proceeding in relation to the plaintiff's applications for licenses under the regulations now pending before the defendants as the licensing authority for the Takapuna district. The injunction also restrains the defendants from exercising any jurisdiction which the regulations purport to confer upon them. The application was made ex parte by Mr. A. M. Gould, and is the commencement of proceedings for a writ of prohibition against the Borough Council. The statement of claim as submitted yesterday alleges: — (1) That for various reasons the regulations are ultra vires; (2) that the Mayor and councillors are disqualified from acting as a tribunal under th? regulations because the council is pecuniarily interested in the matters in question and its transactions with the Takapuna Tramways and Ferry Company give evidence of bias. It was suhmitted that the regulations were repugant to the Motor Vehicles Act, 1924, which provides for the licensing of all motor vehicles according to a provincial system, every such license entitling the motor vehicle to which it relates to be used on any road or street in New Zealand. It is also alleged that the regulations are repugnant to the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, which confers upon a municipality power tn control its streets and vehicular traffic upon them. Several other grounds were submitted, after which his Honor made the order.