TRANSPORT ACT

Hokitika Guardian, 14 January 1932, Page 7

TRANSPORT ACT

OPERATIVE ON MARCH Ist

Tlie Transport Licensing Act passed by Parliament last session, becomes operative on March Ist, and preparations for its administration are nonbeing completed bv the authorities. The measure is recognised as the first step toward bringing about the elimination of wasteful competition in road transport, and it , is claimed that it will do much to place the whole of the Dominion’s transport services on an economic basis. One of tlie first ’tasks awaiting Mr Coates on bis return to Wellington after his holiday is the appointment- of nine district licensing authorities, the Central Licensing Authority, and tlie Transport Appeal Board. They will he set up some time during the present month or early next month, for it will he- necessary for them to become acquainted with the work to lie carried out before March Ist. Under the provisions of the Act there will be six licensing districts in the North'' Island and three in the South Island. Each will have a membership of three, as also will the Appeal Board and the Central Authority. The district .authorities will be appointed from nominations forwarded to the Minister, and these are now practically all to hand. Into tlie hands of these bodies will be placed the control of transport, the licensing, and other aspects governing operations of transport companies, The licensing districts have already been defined,

Although the powers of. municipalities are likely to he affected to some extent by the new law, the three City Councils in Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin will be the licensing authorities for their districts. The Auckland Transport Board will act as the authority in its area. Annual reports of the activities •must be furnished to the Minister for Transport each year. It is stated authoritatively that no immediate alteration will be made in respect of licenses held by transport concerns. It is understood that the procedure will ho to allow the district authorities /to survey the position as it exists in their areas, and only tlfen will any action considered to he necessary he taken. The companies at present operating were circularised by the Transport Department some time ago, and it has been asked that every effort should be made to return applications for Services- by to day. These applications will go direct to the Commissioner of Transport. When they have been classified they will he forwarded to the authorities concerned, and these bodies will then assume control, all interested parties having the right to appear before an authority and make representations. After March, it will be unlawful for a passenger service to be carried on unless it has been duly licensed by a recognised authority. A passenger service license will not he required for the carriage of children to and from school unless other persons are at the same time carried for hire in the vehicles used, nor will a license he required for the carriage by a contract vehicle of a private party on a special occasion, The central authority will issue the license when a service will be mu within more than one district, and the district authority when the service will be conducted entirely within its confines. In considering an application the licensing authority will have regard to the extent to which the proposed service is necessary or desirable in the public interest, and tne needs of the district or districts as a whole. In relation to passenger transport, extensive powers of supervision are given to licensing authorities, and they may inquire into the ability of the applicant to carry on time-tables, the fares proposed to he charged, the adequacy of the services already in operation, the ityp' of veil ides to he used, the condition: of road, and the routes to he followed. and other questions. There is also provision for the control of goods services and for the hearing of appeals. Wide powers are also given to inspectors, who will he enabled to keen a dose watch on the operation of the services and the standard at which tliev are lieing maintained.