PRIVATE TAXICAB STANDS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 304, 19 September 1919, Page 8

PRIVATE TAXICAB STANDS

EXPERIMENT IN WELLINGTON DISCUSSED AT CITY COUNCIL A request by .the Wellington Taxi Owners' Association to the City Council for tho establishment of private stands in tho city was the subject of a recommendation by tho By-laws Committee at tho council meeting last evening that the cab stand at the.comer of Customhouse Quay and Willis Street, as an experiment, be licensed as a private stand, and that tho Taxicab Owners' Association bo requested to nominate the persons who are to occupy such stands. Such persons shall not be entitled to use any I other stand, and the private stand shall bo allotted exclusively to tho members so nominated by the association. The committee also recommended that the Motor Inspector be pjaced in charge ot traffic generally, and that notices, setting out the speed limits be erected at the junction of the Hutt Road, Tinnkori Road, and Thormlon Quay and a', the south side of the Basin Reserve, and also at the bridges on the llutt Road. The committee further recommended that the Minister of Internal Affairs be requested to frame legislation • to provide for tho permanent registration of motor vehicles and drivers,- and also to grant authority to local bodies to supply number plates for motor vehicles of a type uniform throughout the Dominion;' and that the police' Department bo requested to increase as soon as possible the number of men on traffic duty to cope with the increasing traffic." On the discussion of the report, Councillor J. Hutchison objccVd to- the proposed stand being given to the Taxi Owners' Association on the ground that they were giving a very desirable stand to what was a close corporation.

Councillor C. B. Norwood thought that the inspector shquld be given all the assistance possible in controlling -the taxi traffic. He was a member of the By-laws Committee last year, when they went very carefully into the whole taxi business. It was found that a great many cases of overcharging were brought before t.hem, and really a very great deal of power was .vested in the taxiowners. He thought' that the clause did not go far enough. He thought that.they should try the experiment on all tho stands, and asked Councillor Lnckic to extend the clause so e.s to make that possible.

Councillor T. Forsyth supported the clause, and pointed out, that the association was far from being the closo corporation Councillor Hutchison had made it out to be. * ■ Councillor M'Kenzie said this was an honest attempt on the part of the men to improve matters. The experiment could not do any harm. If any trouble did arise, the council could easily step in, and set things right. He commended tho committee for bringing down the clause. Councillor Luckie said if this experiment turned out well they would apply the ballot to all the stands. T.ho committee had taken the matter into full consideration, and wero not going to give any. privileges to any closo corporation which they could not immediately revoke. Councillor A. R. Atkinson resented recommendations being "smuggled in" at the end of reports. Why should they not be made part of the ordinary report? Councillor Hutchison spoke in favour of consolidating tho city by-laws. He had been told by the police that young men could not interpret tho hy-law liecause of the multifarious forms in which the lry-law existed at present. j The report was adopted.