TAXI LICENSES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 39, 15 February 1945, Page 4

TAXI LICENSES

Some of the statements made at the meeting of the Rehabilitation Committee are so far from fact that they become farcical. That the chairman should be against ex-servicemen being employed for profit is curious. Could Mr. Hackett inform the public of any industry which does not emploj 7 labour for profit? If the Rehabilitation Committee had its way there would be such an increase in licenses that the position would become grossly inflated. It would be well for them to note that for some considerable time the Metropolitan Licensing Authority fixed a policy regarding ex-servicemen to which it has strictly adhered—that ex-service-men be given preference over anyone else in the matter of all trans-

fers and any increases. Mr. Taylor's remarks about the man who earned £12 per day are all bunkum; if they are not, I have a partnership to offer that man. It may interest the committee, as well as the public, to learn that Auckland taxi-drivers receive better conditions than anywhere else in the Dominion—higher wages and better hours. It will be time enough for the Government to make open presentations of "multiple licenses" held in the taxi industry when it decides to do the same in the carrying business, omnibus transport, service cars, hotels, and all forms of licensed industry. Mark well that the Government itself is a "multiple" owner. Meanwhile I would strongly suggest that the Auckland Rehabilitation Committee take an educational trip South, where it will find that the furftier it travels the fewer owner-drivers are to be found—whole fleets are owned by one man, or a small syndicate. Apart from this, "multiple owners" in the carrying and passenger transport businesses are not by any means hard to find in this city. W. G. B. SCOTT.