CONTROL OF BUSES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 12 June 1926, Page 8

CONTROL OF BUSES

INJUNCTION AT TAKAPUNA. : (United Press Association.) AUCKLAND, June 10. For the-present, at any rate the Takapuna Borough Council cannot function ; as the licensing authority under the motor omnibus regulations, the Supreme GwiiH having granted an interim injunction against it.' . Before Mr Justice Stringer, m Chambers, -Aixreu Hendry Sntitu, of Takapuna -proprietor of motor omnibuses now running between Milford and Devon-j port, applied for and obtained an inlerim injunction against the Mayor and councillors of the Borough of Takapuna preventing them, for the present, nom lunctionirig as an authority for the licensing ot motor buses under the regulation's which came into force to-day. The injunction, which remains in force until- tne further order of the Court, restrains the defendants from hearing and determining or otherwise,proceeding in relation to the plaintiff s_ applications for licenses under the regulations now pending before the defendants as Lie licensing authority for the Takapuna district. The injunction also re-

6trains the defendants ' from exercising any jurisdiction which the regulations propose to confer upon them. The application, which was made ex parte by Mr A. M. Gould, is the commencement of proceedings for a writ of prohibition against the Borough Council, A writ of this kind may bo applied for as against any judicial tribunai, person, or body which is alleged to liaveu suf'ped jurisdiction to which it is 'not eaititled, or to have, acted in excess df its jurisdiction. The interim injunction is merely intended to preserve the status quo until the application can be heard. The statement of claim submitted to the Court alleges: (1) That for various reasons the 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 iu the matter in question, and its transaction with tlie Takapuna Tramways and Ferry Company give evidence of bias. Tinder the first heading it is submitted that the regulation arc repugnant to the Motor Vehicles Act, 1924. which provides for the licensing of all motor vehicles according'to tha provincial system. every such license entitling a motor vehicle to which it relates to be used on any road or street, in New Zealand. It is also allegod that the regulations are repugnant to the provisions of of the Municipal Corporations Act which confer upon a municipality power to control its streets and vehicular traffic upon them. Further grounds are that the intention and effect, of the. regulations are to suppress an industry defined in the Board of Trade Act, to prevent the fair and open competition of privatelv-owned buses with the tramways and buses operated bv borough and eitv councils, and in the case of Takapuna with the tramway company operating there. All these Acts, it is submitted, are beyond the powers of the Governor-General in Council, and are contrary to the purpose and intention of the Board of Trade Act.