ROAD MOTOR SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 89, 12 October 1937, Page 17

ROAD MOTOR SERVICE

LICENCE FOR RAILWAY

DEPARTMENT

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, October 11. | A licence to operate a continuous passenger service between Culverden and Westport by way of the Lewis Pass road and has been granted (to the Railway Department by a reserved decision of the licensing authority for the No. 3 Transport District, Mr. T. H. Langford. which was released today. The decision stipulates that the service is to be begun not later than December 1, 1937. The only other application considered was made by T. S, Patterson, Reefton. A third application was withdrawn. The licence, which will expire on August 31, 1938, permits any of the vehicles operated by the Department to be used for the'service. Fares have been fixed at £2'53 single and £3 return. A schedule of charges for pareels to be carried by passenger service is to be submitted to the authority for approval at a later date. The application by the Department was granted, the decision states, under the right given to the Department under section 27 of the Transport Licensing Act, 1931, which states that the Minister of Railways is to be given preference over all other applications if "there is no existing transport service over the route or • routes mentioned in the application." The Act also stipulates that the proposed service is an extension of an existing service carried on by the applicant, a condition which the Department undoubtedly satisfies, the decision says. A further ground given in the decision is that where large sums of public money are expended in the construction ot roads over new routes, the public are entitled to' all possible return for the expenditure, and the authority should therefore do no other than grant the licence to the Minister.