BIRKENHEAD BUSES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20678, 25 September 1930, Page 15

BIRKENHEAD BUSES.

PROPOSED NEW SERVICE.

REFUSAL OF LICENCE. NUMEROUS OBJECTIONS MADE. The application by tho Marine Suburbs Bus Company, Limited, for permission to establish a bus service from Highbury Corner, Birkenhead, to tho Northcote Wharf, which was considered by tho No. 2 Licensing Authority yesterday after two previous meetings had been adjourned, was declined, tlio authority refusing to sanction tho service. Considerable evidence was heard. Tho application was opposed by the Birkenhead Borough Council, for which Mr. Vallance appeared, tho Waitemata Bus and Transport Company, Limited, Bluo Star Motor Services, Limited, and Messrs. T. Halliday, J. H. Lynch and L. L. Purdy, for all of whom Mr. Hubblo appeared. Applicant was represented by Mr. Alderton. Mr. 11. J. C. George, a member of the Northcoto Borough Council, appeared on behalf of his council. Tho Mayor of Birkenhead, Mr. J. P. McPhail, was present to opposo the application. Ho stated that traffic would be wrongly diverted from Birkenhead to Northcoto if the application were allowed. In his opinion a service from Highbury to tho Northcoto Wharf would not bo a convenience to the public. » The chairman of the Birkenhead Ratepayers' Association, Mr. John Batty, stated that the association objected to tho granting of the licence. Effect on Existing Services. Opposition was also voiced by Mr. Leslie Leonard Purdy, a motor-bus proprietor, of Birkenhead, who stated thpt the effect of granting the application would be to put tho existing services off the road, as at present there was only a very small margin of profit. Tho manager of the Bluo Star Motor Service, Mr. Percivai Thomas, stated that his company could stand no further competition. " This is an application by a bus company which has not run for two years to conduct a service along a route which it has never run along before," declared Mr. Hubble. Ho said that of the routo to be traversed by applicants only a fifth of a mile was not at present covered. The people in this small area did not desiro the establishment of a service by applicants. It would be impossible to run the proposed service according to tho tirne- ! table which had been submitted. Tho existing services were entitled to protection and there was no ground for tho granting of a new licence. After Mr. Vallance had outlined tho Birkenhead Borough Council's objections, Air. Alderton stated that his client did not propose to establish a " pirate " service. It was difficult to understand the attitude of tho Birkenhead Council, which had nover previously opposed any service or appeared before the authority. As soon as an application had been made to run a service through Northcote the council had voiced opposition. Tho authority then discussed the application in committee, declining to give its sanction. Other Oases Considered. An application from the Waitemata Bus and Transport Company, Limited, to extend its service along Onewa Road from Calliope Road to Glenfield Road was granted, as was also an application from Mr. L. L. Purdy to transfer his licenco for a service from Birkenhead Wharf to Pupuke Road to Birkenhead Transport, Limited, Further applications by Mr. T. Halliday and Mr. J. H. Lynch "to transfer their licence to establish a service between Birkenhead Wharf and Pupuke Road to Birkenhead Transport, Limited, were also granted. Messrs. Halliday and Lynch were empowered to transfer their portion of a licence to run from Birkenhead Wharf to Albany which affected the area past Pupuke Road to Messrs. L. Donohue and R. Ingham, subject to the condition that the latter should not stop to pick up or set down passengers between Birkenhead and one stop past Pupuke Road.