POLITICAL INFLUENCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 December 1938, Page 7

POLITICAL INFLUENCE

TRANSPORT LICENSES

HAWKE’S BAY ALLEGATIONS

[PEB PBESS ASSOCIATION.]

HASTINGS. December 14.

Any intervention on the part of Members of Parliament, or any other persons, in an endeavour to influence the Bench, will not be tolerated by No. 2 Transport Licensing Authority (Mr. P. Skoglund). This was made clear by Mr. Skoglund ata sitting here this morning. When the statement was made, an applicant was appearing before the Authority for a goods service license. It was recalled by Mr. Skoglund that a similar request by the same applicant had been turned down on September 25 last. The Authority, meantime, had received a letter from Mr. Cullen M.P., asking him to do his best for the applicant. “I made a public statement some time ago, and I want to repeat it, that if there is any intervention on ' the part of Members of Parliament, or by any other person, who tries to influence the Bench, I would refuse to hear the application,” said Mr. Skoglund. “It is a very poor opinion shown by the applicant, of the integrity and honesty of the Bench, if he goes to a Member of Parliament, or some other person, who he thinks has influence. I want to say emphatically that intervention of this sort is the greatest dis-service that can be done for any applicant. I am not going to have it, and I want people to understand that I am not going to be influenced. If a Member of Parliament or any other man thinks he can help an applicant, he can come into Court, and get into the witness box.” At a later stage in the sitting, the question of appeal was raised by Mr. C. J. Wilkie, representing the Road Transport'Alliance, who said the carriers in the district were concerned about the position. Recently a Mr. Green had applied to No. 2 Authority for a license and this had been declined. Since then, however, he had interviewed Mr. W. E. Barnard M.P., and appealed to the Minister of Transport, on the occasion of his last visit to the district. The granting of the appeal at a private deputation in Napier, had given rise to considerable adverse comment among transport operators in the district. It was alleged that in granting appeals in this manner, total disregard was shown for the Authorities’ findings. Mr. Skoglund said the Minister could not deal with the appeal, unless it had gone through the proper form. Commenting again, Mr. Wilkie said the transport position made one wonder whether the whole thing was subject to political consideration. Mr. Skoglund: If the Minister likes to give a different decision from that of the Authority, we cannot help it.

Another carrier said that in the case of Green, the carriers heard he intended appealing, and were preparing to defend the appeal, but before they knew any more, the Minister had granted the appeal in Napier. He asked whether it was correct to say that the whole thing was a monopoly or dictatorship. Mr. Skoglund: I cannot say that, but I believe' the Minister’s decision is final. By that, I mean that the appeal cannot be carried to the Privy Council.