SWEEPING CHANGES.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 227, 25 September 1929, Page 10

SWEEPING CHANGES.

AUCKLAND TRANSPORT BOARD

EXCLUSIVE POWERS WITHDRAWN. TRANSFER OF LICENSING AUTHORITY. AUCKLAND AREA MUCH ENLARGED. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. If the new Transport Law Amendment Bill reaches the Statute Book in its present form the Auckland Transport Board will cease to be the Auckland licensing authority, because licensing powers will pass on January 1 to an entirely new authority, very differently constituted. The Auckland Transport Board was get up as the result of the passing of a special Act in 1925, and was vested with the sole and exclusive right to maintain, manage and operate omnibus services and other passenger services. This privilege will disappear on January 1 if the new bill passes, because there is a special amending clause in the new legislation which withdraws the sole and exclusive right to operate motor services. The board will, however, retain its exclusive right to operate tramways. In so far as motor omnibus services are concerned, the board will, in common with other bus proprietors, have to seek licenses from the new authority. The new bill provides, that the Auckland Transport Board Act shall, after January 1, 1930, be read subject to the provisions of the Motor Omnibus Traffic Act, 1926. The amendment is important, in that last year's Act provided that the Motor Omnibus Traffic Act should not operate or be in force within the board's district. The whole of section 66 of last year's Act (modifying -the provisions of the Motor Omnibus Traffic Act) will be repealed if the new bill passes. This does not mean that, there will be a reversion to the former system of placing licensing powers in the hands of the City Council. What will happen if the new bill passes is that there will be a specially constituted licensing authority for each motor omnibus district, and a "district" under the new bill means the highway districts now"in existence under

the Main Highways Act, 1922. Tliesc clisriets have boon defined by regulations, and the now Auckland motor omnibus districts have boon del'mcd by regulations, that now under the jurisdiction of the Auckland Transport Board. It will start in tho south at Waihi, extending westward £o Te Aroha, Rotorua, Te Awamutu, and thence to the coast. The northern boundary is a line drawn across the map from Waitcmata county westward to the coast, all districts from the North Shore up being the North Auckland Highways district. The important factor is that this new piece of legislative machinery will end the reign of the Auckland Transport Board as a licensing authority with exclusive power's. This will be more fully understood if the extensive summary of the new bill (published in another column) is read, since it explains in detail the sweeping changes which are to be introduced throughout the Dominion.