The Press MONDAY, JULY 12, 1937. Taxi Licences

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22142, 12 July 1937, Page 10

The Press MONDAY, JULY 12, 1937. Taxi Licences

In a statement printed on Saturday his Worship the Mayor, who is chairman of the Metropolitan Licensing Authority, announced that the authority will reduce by 40, or nearly a quarter, the number of taxi licences held in Christchurch. This decision, in which the advice of the Commissioner of Transport is adopted, is supported by the argument that conditions in the industry will not permit a wage of £4 10s a week to be paid to drivers unless the number of licences is reduced to this extent. The Mayor's argument is a little difficult to follow, since the conditions are not yet fixed. "Conditions of work," he said, "will "be considered by the authority, which will "be asked to fix fares and wages." But before it has fixed them, apparently, it is quite clear that they will leave profitable business enough for only three taxis in every four now licensed. The logical leap hen. may be less audacious than it looks; Mr Beanland may have a very good idea, in advance, of what fares and wages and hours the authority will fix when he convenes it. But even if that may be assumed, it remains to be said that a calculation of the kind is difficult and uncertain and that in the public interest it should be practically checked and tested. But the decision which Mr Beanland says has been taken makes any check or test impossible. It sharply limits the opportunity of owners to compete for business on the terms to be laid down; and it equally limits the right of the public to settle for itself the amount of service it requires on those terms. The decision is in both respects arbitrary and unwelcome. It was high time, certainly, to substitute order for the chaotic conditions revealed by the recent investigation into the industry; but when regulation has eliminated every possibility of undesirable or dangerous competitive methods, private enterprise and the public between them are entitled to work out the problem that remains, a normal problem of supply and demand in controlled conditions. The licensing authority hus taken the solution into its own hands.