TRANSPORT LICENSING

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 February 1937, Page 2

TRANSPORT LICENSING

GREYM’TH SITTING CONCLUDED The sitting of the No. 3 Transport Licensing Authority (Mr. T. H. Langford) was .concluded at Greymouth today, the following goods and passengers service applications being dealt with:' — , L. E. Hales, Greymouth, new goods service license (two vehicle authority) for the cartage of Public Works road material and concrete pipes in the No. 12 Highways District, with the right to cart pipes, coppers, tubs etc., for the New Zealand Pipe and Concrete Products Ltd., from Gladstone to Greymouth. —Granted, until May 31, 1939. C. G. Rodgers, Greymouth, new goods service license (two vehicle authority) for the cartage of Public Works and local bodies’ road material, in the No. 12 Highways DistrictGranted, until May 31, 1939. W. J. Moore, Greymopth, new goods service license (one vehicle authority) for the cartage of Public Works road material, in the No. 12 Highways District.—Granted, until May 31, 1939. E. A. Brown, Greymouth, new goods service license (one vehicle authority), for the cartage of Public Works road material, in the. No. 12 Highways District. —Granted, until May 31, 1939. T. P. Croft, Stillwater, new goods service license (on vehicle authority), for the cartage of timber in the Grey County and for the cartage of Public Works road material in the No. 12 Highways District. —Granted until May 31, 1939. S. A. Coburn, renewal passenger service license, Greymputh-Rapahoe — Granted, in terms of the previous license, until August 31, 1939.

R. S. Wells, renewal passenger service license, Greymouth-Blaketown. — Granted', in the terms of the previous license, until August 31, 1939. Kennedy" Bros. Ltd., renewal passenger service license, Greymouth-Wing-ham Park. —Granted, in terms of the previous license, until August 31, 1939. T. N’. Mouat, renewal passenger service license, Punakaiki-Greymouth. Mr. Langford said that this application, the evidence for which was taken yesterday, would be treated as a new application, and granted until August 31, 1939, in the terms of the previous license, with the exception that the restriction as to weight would be abolished. H. McGlashan, amendment as regards timetable and fares to passenger service license, _ Greymouth-Blackball. —Granted. H. McGlashan, amendments to timetable and fares to passenger service, Greymouth-Cobden. —Granted. Hon. Minister of Railways, new passenger service license, GreymouthHokitika. Mr. E. S. Brittenden, District Railways Traffic Manager, on behalf of the Minister said that the Department asked the right to run a service between Greymouth and Hokitika as the occasion arose, and as directed by the Transport Authority.—Granted. S. B. P. Andrews, Greymouth, new goods service license (one vehicle authority), for the cartage of Public Works road, material in the No. 12 Highways District. —Granted, until May 31, 1939. H. F. Lewis, Lewis Pass, new goods service license (one vehicle authority), for the cartage of Public Works road material, in the No. 12 Highway District. —Granted, until May 31, 1939. 0. Passmore, Kumara, new goods service license, for mails only, Ku-mara-Hohonu. —Granted, until May 31, 1939. 1 E. W. V. Jones, Big River, new goods service license, for mails and general goods, Big River-Reefton railway station. —Granted, until May 31, 1939.

A. J. Lewis, Crushington, new goods service license, for the cartage of Public Works road ~ material on the Reefton-Maruia road.—Granted until May 31, 1939. Kennedy Bros., amendment as to timetable, passenger service license, Greymouth-Karoro. —Granted. H. Paterson, Reefton, new goods service license, for the cartage of Public Works road material, in the No. 12 Highways District. —Granted, until May 31, 1939. D. A. Reid, Mew goods service license (one vehicle authority), with right to carry two passengers, general goods and farm stock, up to 1 ton 1 cwt., Maruia Valley-Reefton, with a deviation to Maruia Springs. The application was objected to by Norris Bros. (Mr. A. M. Jamieson) the Railway Department (Mr. E. S. Brittenden), and T. S. Patterson. Applicant was represented by Mr. M. B. James. Applicant, in evidence, said that he was a storekeeper residing at Maruia, and ran his lorry into Reefton at least once a week. All Norris bothered about was cream, and his truck was hardly fit for that. There was .a general ddsire in the district that he (the applicant) should be allowed to carry goods, and the Maruia branch of the Farmers’ Union had decided to support his application. ' Cross-examined by Mr. Jamieson, applicant said that there were sufficient carriers in the district, but as they were not efficient, it made room for another. Mr. Brittenden examined applicant at length concerning the service given by the other carriers coming into the district. Mr. Langford said that one of the operators had not played the game with the public and if Reid had come to the Nelson sitting he (Mr. Langford) doubted whether Norris would have got a license at all. He believed every word Reid said and it /was quite evident that the public was not properly served. Later, after hearing further evidence, Mr. Langford said that, froln the evidence, he was satisfied that lackadaisical men were operating the service in the district. Evidence on behalf of applicant, that the existing services were not satisfactory and that a local carrier was desirable, was given by F. W. Williscrcft and B. C. Carson, vice-president and secretary respectively, of the Maruia Branch of the Farmers’ Union. Evidence was also given by the objector, Thomas Patterson, that he was capable of dealing with the cartage offering, and that he was in the district practically every day. There was not sufficient work for another carter.

Mr. Langford said that he intended to reserve his decision on the application until he heard the applications in Christchurch, in connection with a Reefton-Culverden service, as the decision in those cases would have a distinct bearing on the present application. lie was definitely of the opinion that the public in Maruia were not getting the service they were entitled to. MR. LANGFORD'S REMARKS At the conclusion of the sitting, Mr. Langford said that he was very satis-

fled with the progress that had been made with the formation of the Transport Association in Greymouth. He realised that, in so scattered a district, it was difficult to get in touch with operators, but as a result of the sitting the Association had got in touch with operators in outlying districts. He trusted that the negotiations with the farming, business and timber interests, in regard to price fixation would be successful. In his opinion it was the basis of everything, and through it they would soon find out who were the inefficient men. He wanted to tell the inefficient and the lackadaisical men, and they were legion, that they were not going to cater for inefficiency, and those men who could not make their services pay under the regulations would have to give way. It was going to be a condition of every license, continued Mr. Langford, that the: name of every operator be legibly painted on either side of his vehicle. That was for the protection of the licensed operator. They were definitely out to tyack down the ancilliary user, and operators could assist by conforming to the conditions of their licenses in that respect. They could also assist, through their Association, in drawing the attention of inspectors to unlicensed operators. Another thing which concerned the Department was the wholesale tissue .of temporary licenses. Men brought temporary licenses forward as an argument in favour of their being granted licenses by the Authority. Only in special circumstances would temporary licenses be issued in future. In his own area he had made a practice, where applications were made for temporary licenses, to get in touch with the Association and ascertain if there were vehicles available capable of doing the business. If there were, then they got it. The business was not going to be pirated from them by means of temporary licenses. In regard to the certificate of fitness, all operators knew that.it was a condition of their license. The Department were trying to get the .certificates issued as quickly as possible, but before the inspectors came along he would suggest to every man to see to it that his vehicle was roadworthy. He thought that once the reports went into the Minister some drastic action would be taken, and he did not want to see any man get into trouble. In conclusion, Mr. Langford thanked the local Transport Association for the assistance given him in conducting the business of the sitting.