JOINT DELIVERY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23966, 16 May 1941, Page 10

JOINT DELIVERY

INFORMATIONS DISMISSED (0.e.) NAPIER, Thursday A reserved judgment of considerable importance to town carriers and retailers was delivered in the Napier ! Magistrate's Court yesterday, when Mr. ,1. Miller, S.M.. dismissed informations brought; against Clausen's Keen Kut Stores. Limited, and Blythes, Limited, who were charged with operating an unlicensed goods service. At the hearing the Mail) Highways Hoard traffic inspector, Mr. J. W. Coddington, said ft delivery van was owned bv Clausen's ifnd Blythes, the former holding a two-thirds interest, while the latter held the remaining share. Operating and maintenance expenses were borne in a similar proportion. For the defendants. Mr. M. R. Grant said the dispute was really a question ot whether two owners could do what one was clearly entitled to do. "It appears to me that this was a perfectly genuine arrangement." said the magistrate in his judgment, "it was not entered into to evade the Act. The defendants are simply doing what they can do individually without a licence. In these days of difficult trading, any attempt to economise, including the saying of petrol, strengthens good faith. Moreover, in combining, the defendants controlled their own traffic, which is of service to the Transport Department."