NO TAXI LICENCES GRANTED IN WANGANUI FOR FOUR YEARS

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 May 1950, Page 6

NO TAXI LICENCES GRANTED IN WANGANUI FOR FOUR YEARS

The No. 2 Transport Licensing Authority, Mr. C. L. Bishop, was informed at its sitting in Wanganui yesterday by Mr. C. N. Armstrong that no licences to operate taxi-cab services in Wanganui had been granted since 1946. Mr. Armstrong was making submissions for the granting of such a licence to Mr. A. Berntsen. At present there were 32 taxis licensed for the city area. After part of the evidence was taken, the hearing was adjourned until today. Mr. Armstrong explained that the applicant was a returned serviceman, with a good record. Before the war he had operated a heavy truck, but on medical advice he had not returned to this work on his return from overseas. He was at present a tram-driver. He held a taxi-dtiver’slicence. and if his application was successful he was assured of a Rehabilitation loan for the purchase of a car. In his evidence, Mr. Berntsen said that in the course of his work he had observed the need for additional taxis in Wanganui. Some of the new suburban areas were not served adequately by the tram service. The need for taxis would prooably increase when the bus service began because the buses did not intend carrying prams —only pushchairs. He had approached Kiwi Cabs and had been told that that organisatoin would support his application because they had morework than they could cope with. One of the foundation members ol Kiwi Cabs, Mr. W. G.: Ward, gave evidence that in five years the organisation had grown from three cars to eight. Even this number was not ableto cope with the demand and drivers had to work an average of 12 hours a day. He had found that many people in the outlying suburbs were not adequately served by other transport and they preferred to travel by taxi. He thought the demand would grow as more housing was completed in these areas’. Before the hearing was adjourned it was indicated that the Wanganui Taxi-proprietors’ Association would be objecting to the application.