TAXIMEN CHARGED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23215, 8 December 1938, Page 20

TAXIMEN CHARGED

CARRIAGE OF TOURISTS PROSECUTION IN COURT DEFINITION OF CRUISE SHIP THE DECISION RESERVED Four Auckland taxi-drivers were prosecuted in the Magistrate s Court yesterday on a charge of carrying passengers from a ship in use chiefly for the transport of tourists on cruising tours to a place outside a radius of 75 miles from Auckland without possessing a licence under the Transport Act. The case was' important in that the magistrate, Mr. F. H. Levien, said during the hearing that he doubted if the ship, the Orcades, could bo brought within the Gazette notice under which the charge was laid. The taxi-drivers were Paul Lewis Jones, Leo St. John McGuire, Robert Henry Short, for whom Mr. Haig appeared, and Arthur Ravnor Lowe. The lastnamed defendant did not appear and the magistrate said ho would not deal with his case until lie had given his decision in the others. Mr. J. E. Ainsworth, chief inspector for the Main Highways Board, Auckland district, prosecuted. The Gazette Notice The point in dispute was whether the taxi-drivers, who had picked up three car-loads of passengers from the Orcades on October 28, charging £l2 a vehicle to go to Arapuni, should have had permits from the Transport Department. Mr. Ainsworth said he relied upon a notice in the Gazette, which stated that during any time while a ship, in use chiefly for the transport of tourists on Cruising tours, was in the Auckland Harbour, any service by a motor vehicle for the carriage for hire or reward of passengers from any place within the Auckland transport district to any place outside a radius of To miles from the Chief Post Office at Auckland, should be deemed to be a passenger service within the meaning of the Act.

Comment by Magistrate One of Mr. Haigh's submissions was that tlio prosecution had not proved that the "Oreades was a ship in use chiefly for the transport of tourists on cruising tours. The magistrate said that as lie understood it. the Oreades as a general rule conducted an ordinary passenger service between England and Australia and it was doubtful whether it could come within the terms of the notice. He would, however, take time to consider his decision. The word "tours," lie said, seemed to mean that such a .ship should be substantially engaged in carrying tourists rather than 011 a single or a few sueli trips each year.