LICENSING OF TRANSPORT

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21813, 19 June 1936, Page 10

LICENSING OF TRANSPORT

FOUR AUTHORITIES NAMED CANTERBURY DISTRICT MR T. H. LANGFORD TO TAKE CONTROL ■ [From Our Parliamentary Reporter] WELLINGTON, June 18. Four district licensing authorities have been appointed by the Government under the new Transport Licensing Amendment Act. They will take the places of the former central licensing authorities, 'and will have power to grant passenger service licenses, and to exercise jurisdiction in transport affairs, under Ministerial control. The four authorities who have been appointed by the Minister for Transport (the Hon. R. Semp ), with the concurx ence of Cabinet, are:— Mr E. J. 'Phelan, of Auckland. Mr Philip Skoglund, Town Clerk of Stratford. Mr T. H. Langford, of Temuka. Mr Victor Raines, of Invercargill. The appointments indicate the respective geographical representation. ~ , Mr Phelan, who is well known in local body administration in Auckland, will control licensing in the Auckland province. Mr Skoglund will have charge of the southern part of the North Island, including Wellington. Mr Langford will control Canterbury and Westand, and ■Mr Raines, a solicitor, will control licensing in Otago and Southland. The Minister said to-day that he would make an official announcement about the appointments within the next few days. He was satisfied, he said, that the four men appointed would “fill the bill.” All the men appointed were of wide general experience, had a sound knowledge of the districts which they would administer, were 100 per cent, loyal to the policy of the Government, and were sympathetic toward the transport situation. The four men appointed will confer with Mr Semple in Wellington before taking up their duties. MINISTER’S APPOINTEES LOCAL BODY EXPERIENCE Mr Edward John Phelan is a member of the Auckland Transport Board, the Parnell Transport Licensing Authority, and the Auckland City Council. He is a director of the firm of Winter and Phelan, land agents, of Auckland, and since 1900 has been secretary of the Auckland Timber Workers’ Union, In 1915 and 1916 he was. a member of the Board of Trade, and in 1916 and 1917 of the Repatriation Board. He is a trustee, of the Auckland Patriotic Association, the Auckland Trades Hall, and the Auckland Veterans’ Home. He has been a member of the Auckland City Council since 1925 and of the Auckland Transport Board and Parnell Transport Licensing Authority since 1928. Mr P. Skoglund Mr Philip Skoglund, who was formerly well known on the West Coast, is Town Clerk of Stratford, having held the position of many years. For some years h6 has been a prominent member of the New Zealand Institute of Town Clerks, and in 1934 he was president of that body. An ardent supporter of the Labour party, he contested the Stratford electorate as a Labour candidate against the sitting member, Mr W. J. Poison, president of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, who was a National candidate, and Mr C. R. Finnerty, the Democrat candidate. He was narrowly beaten by Mr Poison. He is a member of a family of enthusiastic bowlers, and he has played in several New Zealand tournaments as a member of a rink of four Skoglunds. Mr T. H. Langford Mr Thomas Herbert Langford is a prominent member of several local bodies in South Canterbury. He has four times unsuccessfully contested the Temuka seat against Mr T; D. Burnett, M.P., twice as a Liberal, once as an independent, and in 1935 in the interests of the Labour party. He is president of the Temuka branch of the Labour party and a member of the local Labour Representation Committee.

Mr Langford was educated at the Richmond and West Christchurch Schools, and was for seven years a law clerk to Mr F. D. Kesteven. Since then he has been for 25 years a storekeeper at Winchester. He served in Egypt and France during the Great War, and was severely wounded. He is a member of the South Canterbury Electric Power Board for the Geraldine district, member of the Temuka Unemployment Committee and Winchester Domain Board, and a justice of the peace. He is a vicepresident of the South Canterbury Rugby Union, and a former South Island representative player. He is also a member of the Timaru Trotting Club. Mr Langford will take up his residence in Christchurch almost immediately. His business at Winchester will be continued by his son. Mr V. Raines Mr V. Raines received his primary school education at the Invercargill South School and attended the Southland Boys’ High School. He had seven years’ commercial experience with the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company before studying law at Victoria University College, Wellington. He continued his law studies, and received further valuable training in bis profession as clerk to Sir Thomas Wilford, and later as managing clerk for Sir Alexander Gray. Having qualified as a barrister and solicitor, Jw established a practice in Inver-

cargill in 1920, his chief interest being commercial law.

Mr Raines is vice-president of the Invercargill Labour Representation Committee and also a vice-pre-Invercargill branch of tliG New Zcfllcind Labour psu^y.