"HIGHLY IMPORTANT."

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2931, 17 November 1916, Page 4

"HIGHLY IMPORTANT."

QUESTION OF TAXI-DEIVERS, During the criminal session of th« Supreme Court, a. taxi-driver was found guilty of assaulting a. woman who patronised, his car, and tho Chief Justice remarked on tho fact that a man of! such a character should get a license to drive a taxi. Last ovening this matter was mentioned at tho City Council by Councillor W. H. P. Barlier, who said that though tho man referred to had been refused a liconsc in the City he had been granted a temporary permit whilo his character was being inquired into. This practice was observed so that men. would- not be out of work during the inquiry period. The permit bad been cancelled after a few days, but the •man 1 had then gone to a neighbouring borougli and carried on his business. An officer of a local body-near Wellington had said it was difficult to prevent evert had characters from obtaining taxi licenses, but that was a wrong view. If other bodies made inquiries through tho police (as Wellington City did) undesirables could be kept out of the busi-, ncss, and it was highly important that! they should he. ; Councillor J. Hutcheson said another problem with taxi men was Wellington's lack of control of men licensed elsewhere. If complaint was made that 6Uch-a'nd-such a driver had done something wrong, the answer might be that the Wellington officers had no control over him because he was not licensed here. He knew of an instance of the> kind. Councillor J. E. Fitzgerald, alluding to the : case mentioned by Councillor Barber, said that he had complained against that nian berng given oven a, permit, and it va% decided to remove tho man from the road, but it took eighteen days to do so. Tliis caused someone to remark that sowo speedier means of acting was needed. . It was stated also that on one occasion a man who was relieved of his license by tho Corporation was found i to have been given employment driving a Government.vehicle.