CIVIC AFFAIRS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22893, 23 November 1937, Page 14

CIVIC AFFAIRS

' TAXICAB RATES OVER-CHARGING CASES SERIOUS VIEW TAKEN ONE LICENCE SUSPENDED A serious view of reported eases of over-charged taxi fares was taken by the City Council last night. Folio-wing an investigation of oije alleged instance, which resulted iji a driver's licence for a public motor vehicle being temporarily cancelled, the council decided to inform the taxi companies that ,when such cases were proved more severe penalties would be imposed in tho future. A report was' received from the Legal and By-Laws Committee of a complaint, by two members of the council, Messrs. J. T. Jennings and J. Purtell, that they were over-charged by a taxi-driver on a fare from the Civic Square rank to Eden Turk 011 September 25.

Driver's Explanation Tho drixer of the cab told tho coi

rnittee that a further passenger had asked' to be driven to Walters ftoad and the councillors had agreed to allow him to travel with them. On reaching "his destination he was charged 2s. On arrival at Eden Tark, the driver said, he noticed two florins lying on the back of the front seat and, in

reply'to one of the passengers, he informed them the fare was 3s Cd. He

wag about to give the 6d change whe

they stated they were councillors, and "he was so taken aback that lie forgot to give the change. Ho stated that ho t. "would not have carried the third per- ■ son to' "Walters Road had the first two passengers objected.

; Recommendation by Committee .«■ The. committee considered that on f~ Ihe driver's own admission it would appear that he had not only committed a breach of the by-laws in charging more than the prescribed fare, but that ho could also be prosecuted for a breach of the Transport Licensing Act for plying ftfr separate fares. The committee recommended that his licence to drivo a public motor vehicle should be can't celled and that the town clerk should ■~ J be authorised to issue a new licence w - not sooner than one week later should ~ the driver make application.

; The; report was adopted. '■ The superintendent of traffic, Mr. C. * Bland, reported that complaints had *. been received of the taxi-cabs on the stand'in Upper Queen Street obstructf ing the entrance to adjacent premises s'• and traffic emerging from Cross Street. ;■ The council decided to abolish the ,'t existing stand and re-establish_ it for <- the use of six cars on the opposite side £ of the.road.

QUEEN STREET PARKING

" request by shopkeepers * ! AN EXTENSION GRANTED 4 An extension in the time limit for ihe parking of motor vehicles in Queen I Street from Customs Street to ■ Quay * Street from five* to ten minutes was I. approved by the C'itv Council last night fon the recommendation of tho Legal * and By-Laws Committee. This action ■ - was taken in response to the reprementations of 20 shopkeepers in lower j Queen Street, who stated that the i present restrictions were seriously X effecting their businesses. t The superintendent of traffic, Mr. ,C. £Bland, "said that, with the opening of t the municipal bus station and the re-' ' rnoval of .the buses from lower Queen "/ Street, there was no longer the same 5- congestion of traffic and there would '■" be no objection to the parking Testric-. tion being extended to .10 minutes. ' However, it would : be inadvisable to '* comply with the request for 20 minutes.5 OLD WATER MAINS I LIFTING AND RE-LINING | INCREASE IN THE FLOW *; The'progress made in lifting and re- * lining old street water mains was reviewed by the waterworks engineer, * Mr. A. D. Mead, at a meeting of the I'. City Council last night. Over two miles of: piping have been lifted in Parnell J and the /low has been materially, jn-

£ creased. Mr. Mead said work was com-, £ ipenced in the lower or western porJ ■ tion of Parnell, which was supplied from the Ponsonby reservoir, and this i; section had been completed. The balance of Parnell was supplied from the *? Khyber Pass Teservoir. As they were the main feeders of this district, the *> "very old mains in Constitution Hill

4" andf Alten Road were also relaid. In ' the streets in which the work was car- ,! ried out the flow at the fire-plugs had '•'been almost everywhere below 200 gal- *: Jons a minute, which was considered • by the Fire Board as the minimum f. essential for reasonable protection in t residential areas, but it was now. J', brought up to a point which offered • ; an .adequate margin above this amount. )' The mtfins, which were cement lined, were expected to remain in good con-' !. dition for a long period, it';. The right of the Mount Albert \ Borough Council to use a' source of water supply within its own . area *; for swimming baths, parks or recrea- ■ tion grounds, following the agreement of . three suburban local authorities to secure water from the city system, was J) acknowledged by the council, Mr. v Mead said the council could not legally object to a consumer within the city r-.-utilising a well or spring on his own property for his own use and it appeared that the same condition would *• apply in connection with the supply to a local body. ' INCREASE IN RENTALS PREMISES OWNED BY COUNCIL 1 Recommendations of the Property Committee to increase the rentals of premises owned by the City Council in ' the Beach Road-Emily Place block were adopted by the council last night. Each property was considered separately, the increases varying from 5s to I2s a week. In the case of the council's shop properties in Karangahape Road, consideration was deferred until the end of the year. CONSUMPTION OF WATER INCREASE FOR OCTOBER A substantial increase in the quantity of water consumed in Auckland during October, as compared with the same month last year, was recorded in a report of the waterworks engineer, Mr. A. D. Mead, to the City Council last' night. The figure advanced from 259,075.000 gallons to 284,740,000 gallons. The average daily consumption last month was 9,185,000 gallons, the maximum occurring on October 22 when 11.138,000 gallons were used. Tfre dams at the end of October showed a total of 1,438,000,000 gallons, the individual figures beine:—Huia, 479,000,000 gallons; Waitakero, 379,000,000; Nihotapu, 511,000,000; Jkjo» Kihot " pu auxili °^,• f °"'