LICENSING AUTHORITY

Taranaki Daily News, 2 September 1933, Page 5

LICENSING AUTHORITY

BITTING AT NEW PLYMOUTH GOODS TRANSPORT SERVICES. AUTOMATIC LICENSES GRANTED. The transport licensing authority for the No. 5 district commenced a sitting of five days at New Plymouth yesterday, when ten applicants were granted automatic licenses to carry goods and one application was held over pending the submission of further evidence on Monday. The personnel of the authority is: Mr. P. .Thomson (chairman), Mr. J. C. Rolleston and Major R. A. Wilson. The authority will sit again this morning. In reply to Mr. N. Little, the chairman Baid that the date of applications for automatic licenses had been extended from May 21 to May 22. He announced it would be the policy of the authority to insert in all licenses clauses providing that no persons should be carried. for fares or other reward in the vehicles licensed, and that Sunday . operations were prohibited unless permitted under section 18 of the Police Offences Act. With regard to the application of Kibby and Calgher for an automatic goods service license within the area Mr. St. Leger Reeves appeared in support and Mr. J. H. Sheat to oppose. The application was granted. Mr. Reeves said Kibby and Calgher, in common with another firm, were the pioneers of the carrying business at New Plymouth. Forty years ago the applicants started operations with horse and cart. Since then they had done carrying throughout Taranaki to Opunake and Hawera and other parts. The firm s business had been throughout the district, and outside the district pedigree stock had been carried. This application did not refer to stock outside the district, however, as it was understood that work could be covered by a temporary license. The firm applied for a license to cover the district around New Plymouth for 50 miles. ' ' ' • CONTROL OUTSIDE LIMIT. The applicants had several contracts with dairy companies outside the five miles limit That day they had commenced a contract with the Frankley Road Dairy Company for two years. They had been transporting goods down the coast. Counsel understood there would be some opposition to the application as it concerned services on the coast towards Opunake. The firm had not been carrying on a regular service on the coast, but its services had been available when required under the Act. It was submitted it was not essential that there should be a defined service on the road at regular periods in order to entitle the applicants to an automatic license, as long as the applicants could show that during the period from November 11, 1931, when the Act commenced to operate, to the present day the firm had been running a continuous goods service. It was submitted, therefore, that the applicants had always been entitled to an automatic license. Alexander Adam, secretary to Kibby and Calgher, Ltd., gave evidence on these lines. He said that in 1929 the firm was formed into a limited liability company. It had a fleet of six vehicles. He estimated that at least 25 per cent, of the firm’s income came from the coastal route, of which Rahotu was the limit. At least. 40 per cent, of the income came from outside t? ” five miles limit. Cross-examine... the witness said that four of the vehicles were licensed at present; there were five last year. He denied that before obtaining the Newall Road contract the firm was mostly occupied with a general town business. He admitted that there was no degree of regularity outside the five miles limit During a discussion on the implications of the application for a license within a 50 miles radius of New Plymouth, Mr. H. C. Couch (Railway Department) pointed out that that would give the firm the right to operate to a. point beyond Awakino, to Tokirima on the Stratford railway and to Kakaramea, near Patea, on the main line. Mr. Reeves said the applicants would be prepared to confine their services between Awakino, Hawera and Opunake. They would not start a regular service on the coastal route. NEW PLYMOUTH TO HAWERA. The New Plymouth Express Co., Ltd. (Mr. G. Ball) applied for two continuous licenses, the first over a defined route between New Plymouth and Hawera, via Inglewood, Stratford and Eltham, with permission to serve by-roads up to a distance of four miles, and the second for an area within a radius of 15 miles of the New Plymouth exempted area. George F. Petheram, managing director of the company, said that prior to the formation of the' company from the New Plymouth branch of the New Zealand Express Company in May, 1932, he was manager of the-branch. The present company had purchased the whole of the assets of the New Zealand company, with the exception of the book debts. The local personnel was the same, as under the old regime and the services had been carried on continuously. The only difference was the change of name. The firm had six vehicles, four of which were in commission at present. A oncedaily service was run between New Plymouth and Hawera, leaving New Plymouth about 10.39 a.m. Drivers on the route were forbidden to pick up passengers. •Regarding the application for the radius license, the witness said the business was general, with no fixed contracts. To Mr. Couch: It was intended that the radius license would include the Stratford area. Both licenses were granted. Frederick E. Vickers, Inglewood, was granted an area license. Mr. Grant said the applicant had a general carrying business which he started in October, 1930, and had carried on continuously since. He had one truck and employed no labour. He had no defined routes or definite contracts, said Vickers in evidence. His business took him through the' Inglewood county and into Taranaki, Clifton and Stratford counties. A similar application from Alfred L. Downs, Inglewood, was granted. Mr. Grant said the applicant’s business was similar to that of Vickers. He had been operating since August, 1924. He had one lorry. AREA LICENSES. An area license was granted Roy Hurlstone, Egmont Village, who, said Mr. Grant, had been carrying on a general business for 12 years, without change since November, 1931. He had one lorry. Samuel Kilpatrick, Inglewood, was granted an area license. He had been carrying on a general business since 1921, Mr. Grant explained. He had one lorry and employed no labour. He had a bobby calf contract. The Rahotu Co-operative Dairy Co., Lta., was the next applicant. In supporting a request for an area license the secretary (Mr. H. Baily) said the comparty undertook cartage for itself. The amount of cartage for outsiders was small, but it was necessary to obtain a license because of the area that had to be covered at times. A lorry had been running since May, 1920. George Gibson, chairman of the committee of directors in charge oi the carrying section of the company s busi-

ness, said the lorry ran between the factory and the grading stores at Moturoa. It returned to Rahotu with, factory requisites and goods for suppliers. A few goods for outsiders were taken if an urgent request were made, but the company did not lay itself out for this Business, its first consideration being the factory and suppliers. The lorry had been as far as Hawera for factory machinery. The work was done with a four-ton lorry. The drivers were given definite instructions not to carry passengers. “In fact,” said Mr. Gibson, ‘the suppliers think it very haro. that they cannot ride in their own lorry.” The application was granted for one lorry, licensed for the Clifton, Taranaki, Egmont and Eltham counties. DAIRY FACTORY CONTRACTS. Ernest J. Press, Tarata, who appeared on his own behalf, was granted an area license for the Taranaki, Inglewood, Clifton and Stratford counties. He said he had been conducting the business about seven years. He had a contract with the Tarata Dairy Company. W. J. Thomason, Maketawa, was granted an area license for the counties of Inglewood, Taranaki, Clifton and Stratford. Mr. C. Deem said Thomason had a contract with the Maketawa Dairy Company to take produce to the Moturoa grading stores; he returned to Maketawa with stores for the company and a few goods for outsiders. He also did general Carrying of stock,. manures, furniture, The next applicants were Stanton and Sons, Vogeltown, who asked for an automatic area license for the Taranaki county, the northern part of the Egmont county, the eastern part of the Clifton county and the northern part of the Inglewood county to mountain reserve Mr. L. M. Moss explained that the firm had been a partnership since 1922. For nine years it operated in the Waiuku district, and in September, 1931, it purchased lorries from the Mangorei Dairy Company and commenced a general carrying business at New Plymouth. On September 21, 1931, a contract for the collection of cream was made with the Mangorei Dairy Company for five years and ten days. In June, 1932, a second contract was signed, with the Cape Egmont Company, for a year. This had been renewed and would expire on June 1, 1936 - ~ „ William Theodor Stanton said the firm had six lorries and five drivers. The firiu did not compete with the railways and never had done so. s

Cross-examined by Mr. Sheat, witness said he was asking the authority to believe that for the purposes of the Act, between September 21, 1931, and November 11, 1931, they had established a business in the districts covered by the application They had relatives in the province, and with their assistance and that of dairy company directors they established a connection rapidly. He said it was hardly true to say he had hardly been into the coast district before the contract with the Cape Egmont Company. His. books would show the records of trips into that and other districts. The chairman suggested that when counsel intended to oppose an application it would be advisable to notify the applicant that his books should' be produced. . Mr. Sheat: Until the authority sits we won’t know what their application will include. . Mr.- W. Middleton, representing Scotts Motors, supported Mr. Sheat. He had no idea until that day that Stanton and Co. were applying to go into districts to comIpete with northern carriers, he said. As a matter of fact, they had not known Stanton and Co. went into the district north of. Waitara. After further cross-examination on business details Mr. Sheat submitted that the evidence produced was not sufficient to justify the granting of an automatic license. He indicated he could bring evidence denying the statement that Stanton and Co. had business down the coast before the Cape Egmont conWitness said he could obtain the books that day. William Davis Stanton, father of the previous witness, also gave evidence. Cross-examined, Stanton agreed with his son that whether an automatic license were granted for the northern districts did not matter very much. Temporary licenses would serve the purpose. Francis R. Fairey, accountant for L. H. Johnson Motors, New Plymouth, produced figures relating to running costs. Mr. Moss said very few carriers, until lately, had kept tonnage records, nor had they any need to. There was a determined move to keep up dairy contracts, and any attempt to lower them by men who took off their coats and worked was met by the most bitter opposition. Mr. .Sheat: That is hardly fair comment. Mr. Moss: My friend is keeping up a running comment during the hearing. The chairman said Mr. Sheat would

have the opportunity of bringing evidence later. Patrick Brophy, chairman of the Cape Egmont Dairy Company, said Stanton and Sons had done very little carrying before June, 1932, when they took the contract with the company. They had taken manure out before that. He had been satisfied with the work of the applicants. At this stage the hearing was adjourned until Monday afternoon to enable Mr. Moss to call evidence from the coastal district, regarding business done there by the Stantons after their arrival in Taranaki. T, J. Loveridge, New Plymouth, was granted a route license to operate between New Plymouth and Hawera. He said he took over the business on August 27, 1928, and since then had run a delivery contract for the Taranaki Daily News. Besides papers he carried goods, mostly general merchandise. Crowe and Clark, Lepperton, were granted an area license. William George Clark, for whom Mr. Sheat appeared, said they had been in business since 19'18. They had a cartage contract with the Lepperton Dairy Company, and transported bobby calves. They were the only carriers in the Lepperton district and did general carrying for the settlers. _ , To Mr. Couch: He had to run to Inglewood with meat on Tuesdays and Fridays. The back loadings were small. The license was made to cover the Taranaki and Inglewood counties and the Waihi and Tikorangi ridings of the Clifton county.