PASSENGER SERVICE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19453, 12 October 1937, Page 8

PASSENGER SERVICE

LICENSE FOR RAILWAYS LEWIS PASS ROAD REASONS FOR DECISION (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, last night. A license to operate a continuous passenger service between Culverden and Westport by way of the Lewis Pass road and Reefton has been granted to the Railways Department by a reserved decision of the Licensing Authority for the No. 3 transport district, Mr. T. 11. Langford, which was released to-day. The decision stipulates that the service is to be begun not later than December 1. 1937. The only other application considered was made by T. S. Patterson, Reefton. A third application was withdrawn. The license, which will expire on August 31, 1938, permits any of the vehicles operated by the department to be used for the service. The fares have been fixed at 45s single and (10s return. A schedule of the charges for parcels to be carried by the passenger service is to he submitted to the authority for approval at a later date. The application by the department was granted, the decision states, under the right given to the department under section 27 of the Transport Licensing Act, 1931, which states that the Minister of Railways is to he given preference over all other applications if “there is no existing transport service over the route or routes mentioned in the application.” The Act also stipulates that the proposed service is an extension of the existing service carried on by the applicant, a condition which the department undoubtedly satisfies, the decision says.

A further ground given in the decision is that where large sums of public money are expended in tiie construction of roads over new routes, die public is entitled to all possible return for the expenditure, and the authority should, therefore, do no other than grant the license to the Minister.