BUS TRIBUNAL DISQUALIFIED

Evening Star, Issue 19273, 11 June 1926, Page 11

BUS TRIBUNAL DISQUALIFIED

INTERIM INJUNCTION ISSUED PROPRIETORS' MOVE AT AUCKLAND [Pkr United Press Association.] AUCKLAND, June 10. For tlie present, at any rate, the Takapuna Borough Council cannot function as a licensing authority under the motor omnibus regulations, tno Supreme Court having granted an interim injunction against it. Before Mr Justice Stringer, in Chambers, Alfred Hendry Smitn, of Takapuna, proprietor of the motor omnibuses now running between Milford, and Devonport, applied for and obtained an interim injunction against the mayor and councillors ,ot the borough of Takapuna, preventing them for the present from functioning as an authority for the licensing of motor buses under the regulations which came into force to-day. Tho injunction, which remains in force until a further ordor ofc tho court, restrains tho dofondants from hearing and determining or otherwise proceeding in relation to plaintiff’s applications for licenses under tho .regulations now pending before defendant as .the licensing authority for tho Takapuna district. The injunction also restrains tho defendant from exercising any jurisdiction which the regulations purpose to confer upon it. Tho application, which was made ex parte by Mr A. M. Gould, is the commencement of proceedings for a writ of prohibition against tho Borough.. Council. A writ of tliis kind may be applied for as against any judicial tribunal, person, or body which is alleged to have 'usurped jurisdiction to which it is not entitled or to have acted in _ excess of its jurisdiction. The interim injunction is merely intended to preserve the status quo until application can ho heard. Tho statement of claim submitted to tiho court alleges : 1. That for various reasons tho regulations are ultra vires. 2. That the mayor and councillors are disqualified from acting as a tribunal under the regulations, because the council is pecuniarily interested in the matter in question, and its transactions with tho Takapuna Tramways and Ferry Company give evidence of bias.

Under the first heading it is submitted that the regulations are repugnant to the motor Vehicles Act, 1924, which provides for the licensing of all motor vehicles. According to the provincial system, every such license entitles the motor vehicle to which it relates to be used on any road or street in New Zealand. It is also alleged that the regulations are repugnant to the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, which confers upon a municipality power to control its streets and vehicular traffic upon them. Further grounds are that the intention and effect of the regulations is to suppress an industry as defined in the Board of Trade Act, and to prevent the fair and open competition of pri-vately-owned buses with the tramways and motor buses operated by borough and city councils, and, in the case of Takapuna, with a tramway company in operation there, to create a monopoly. All those acts, it is submitted, are beyond the powers of the Governor-Gene-ral in Council, and are contrary to the purpose and intention of the Board of Trade Act, GOVERNMENT SHOULD DECIDE AUCKLAND COUNCIL’S ATTITUDE. AUCKLAND, Juno 10. The City Council, sitting as a licensing authority under the motor bus regulations, carried a resolution regretting that the Government had passed on to local authorities the onerous responsibility of determining which buses should be liable to charge the extra twopenny faro, when the matter was really one for Government regulation, and should bo . determined by the Government. USUAL FARES “ RIDICULOUS INSURANCES ” CAN WAIT. WELLINGTON, June 10. The buses are being run in the city, and the usual fares are being charged. There is some difference of opinion between Mr M'Donald, manager of the bus company, and the mayor (Mr C. J. B. Norwood) as to whether tho council proposes to issue a license, and, provided the proscribed forms are filled in by the company, the mayor indicated that the Finance Committee was prepared to recommend the council to grant a license. “ We are charging tho usual lares, said Mr M'Donald, “and will have to continue to do so till the council determines its policy on the question of licenses. I am not going to take out these ridiculous insurance policies until I know whether the license will be granted or not.” Tho mayor, in reply, says; “Tho regulations are law, and must bo complied with.”