GOODS SERVICE LICENCES

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25932, 12 October 1949, Page 6

GOODS SERVICE LICENCES

RAILWAYS APPLICATIONS CRITICISED From Ou', Own Reporter TIMARU. October 11. Protests against the Railways Department’s alleged attempts to get extensions to goods service licences without a public hearing of the proceedings were expressed by delegates at the annual conference of the New Zealand Road Transport Alliance at Timaru yesterday. The carriers' sphere of operation had been reduced and on all sides the Railways Department was seeking exemption from the shed to shed basis of transport, said Mr F. J. Townsend. “It is time for us to take a definite stand against the Railways Department.” he said. Mr R. A. Witbrock (Christchurch) urged that licensing authorities should not tolerate hearings “behind locked doors." The acting General Manager of Railways (Mr E. H. Langford), after meeting Transport Alliance representatives, had expressed approval of some coordination between the railways and private operators concerning haulage to flag stations, said the secretary of the alliance (Mr H. J. Knight). A trial service had beer, proposed for rail-road co-ordination, but the result could not be assessed for some time, he said.