MOTOR TRANSPORT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21990, 22 December 1934, Page 13

MOTOR TRANSPORT

GOODS AND MAILS SERVICES IN COUNTRY AUTHORITY STATES PRINCIPLE [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION'] CHRISTCHURCH, Friday An important principle concerned with the issuing of motor goods service licences for country districts as affecting mail-carrying contracts let by the Post and Telegraph Department has been decided in a reserved judgment announced to-day by the No. 8 Transport Licensing Authority. The effect of the judgment is that the licensing authority maintains its right to over-rule the Postal Department by refusing to licence mail contractors. The' judgment states:—"ln considering these cases, a principlo that we feel should be adopted is that if the mail contract far outweighs any other part of the carrying business, then, prima facie, if a new operator is the loner tenderer, he should be entitled to the licence and the unsuccessful tenderer should give way to him, the rest of the business in that case clearly following the mail contract. If, on the other hand, the mail subsidy is a small thing compared with the rest of a licensee's business, we think it would be wrong, in the face of section 26, to bring in a new man, but that in such a case, if the licensee cannot agree with the postal authorities as to the amount of the subsidy to be paid, it might be referred to the licensing authority to fix.

"Consideration would be given in this case to the other elements, such as, for example, how much of the outside business is due wholly or in part to the licensee's own exertions and how much necessarily follows his having a post office contract. Some consideration must be given also to the length of time the applicant has held the contract as having a bearing on this aspect of the case. The longer he has held it, the greater the consideration to which he is entitled. Other considerations apply, too, but in our view these are the basic ones."