GOODS CARRIERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 July 1934, Page 5

GOODS CARRIERS

TAKING OF PASSENGERS. “1 wisli very definitely to state on behalf of the Authority that goods operators are to discourage in every possible way the carrying of passengers, particularly so where passenger vehicles are licensed to operate over the same routes or areas,” observed Mr G. A. Troup, chairman of the No. 6 Transport Licensing Authority, at a sitting in Masterton this week.

At this sitting, proceeded Mr Troup, the Authority had been faced with an unusual number of applications for extra vehicles and increased loading. The Authority deemed it necessary to view the situation over the whole of the area which it controlled, and in doing so found that, in relation to the whole of the area, there had been this time a request, taking all the applications as one, for over 41 per cent, increases over the present carriage capacity. “In the opinion of this Authority,” observed Mr Troup, “such an increase is neither-justified by the traffic offering nor by the balance sheets which have been submitted to the Authority. When I tell you that over 33 per cent of the operators in the whole of the area controlled by this Authority are making a profit of less than £lOO per annum you will see that there are a great many who are not really making what one might call a living wage out of their operations.” In the various decisions, applications for additional vehicles, generally speaking, had not been granted unless in cases where an applicant could show that lie could have obtained the increase automatically, and in some cases where there had been special considerations, but very rarely had the Authority agreed to do it. "With regard to increases in weight, Mr Troup said that the Authority had limited that except in a few cases, for the reasons already stated, to increases of lOcwt. That was as far as they could go at the present time, but he could not say what they might do in the future. Business might increase to a certain extent, and they felt that it would be a fair thing, at the present time, to grant all applications for increases not exceeding lOcwt.