PASSENGER SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 273, 13 August 1932, Page 12

PASSENGER SERVICE

No Transport Act Breach INFORMATION DISMISSED Dominion Special Service. Masterton, August 12. In a reserved judgment delivered today Mr. J. Miller, S.M., dismissed the information laid under the Transport Licensing Act, 1931, in which Andrew J. Chapman, holder of. a license authorising him to carry on a passenger service between Masterton and Carterton, was charged with breaches of that license. It was alleged that defendant failed on one trip on July 24 to adhere to his timetable, and also that he had used two cars on the same trip, whereas he was entitled to use only one. The case, which was heard in the Alasterton Alagistrate’s Court two weeks ago, was the first to come before a court in the Wairarapa. The defence was based on section 21 of the Act, which provides that a passenger service license is, not required in the case, of the carriage of a private party on a special occasion. In evidence defendant said that on the night in question he had been approached on behalf of a party of four people and asked to convey them to the pictures at Alasterton and to take them back to Carterton afterward. He held a taxi license for both Masterton and Carterton in addition to his passenger service license. The magistrate pointed out in his judgment that the word “service” implied more than a single act It seemed that even more than one isolated user of an unlicensed passenger service vehicle was, in the opinion of the Legislature, not a “carrying on” of the service. If the minor breach of “running late” was “carrying on” not in conformity with the license, much more was curtailing a service without notice, but the Legislature had again provided a separate penalty for a much lesser amount. “In the present case the incident is an isolated one,” continued his Worship. “In my opinion the defendant has not therefore committed the offence of ‘carrying on’ a passenger service not In conformity with his license. Even had there been several minor breaches, it is doubtful if the offence has been committed. I think special provision should be made. In England the road service license which is granted in conjunction with the public service vehicle license is dealt with, but it is only when the breaches are frequent, wilful or dangerous to the public. The information will be dismissed.”