BUSSES AND COUNTY ROADS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3686, 3 September 1927, Page 2

BUSSES AND COUNTY ROADS.

LIMITED SPEED OF 16 MILES! MAGISTRATE’S CAUSTIC COMMENTS. At the local S.M. Court yesterday, before Mr.J. L. Stout, S.M., the Manawatu County Council (Mr. Berry), proceeded against J. O’Reilly (Mr. Oram), a driver of one of Messrs Madge Bros, char-a-bancs running between Palmerston North and Foxton, for driving at an excessive speed contrary to the Motor Regulations Act governing buses. Mr. Berry, in evidence, stated that the Motor Regulations provided that buses in class G which governed Messrs Madge Bros, char-a-bancs were allowed to travel at 14 miles per hour with an increase of 20 per cent, bringing the speed up to a maximum of 16 miles per hour. On a recent date witness had timed O’Reilly’s bus and found that it was doing 33 miles per hour on the Himatangi Road. The Council had received a great number of complaints from Madge Bros, about the bad state of the County roads, and this the Council attributed to the pace at which vehicles, such as these travelled,, over the highways. The S.M.: You don’t think they are going to slow down to 14 miles per hour do you? Mr. Berry said that they could apply for an increase in the speed . to the Council, and defendant’s firm had done this since the issue of the summons. The S.M. (Perusing the regulations) : If this applies to passenger buses then it’s time the regulations were redrafted. Mr. Berry: They were only drawn up in 1927. The S.M.: Surely they were not intended to apply to motor buses! Counsel: Technically! my client comes within those regulations. The S.M.: They provide that vehicles of certain weights can travel at certain speeds. I suppose bus owners are expected to weigh up the passengers before they start. Counsel: Fifteen passengers go to the ton, your worship (laughter). The S.M.: Is this an attempt to put the lorries off the road because they are running in opposition to the railways? It’s unreasonable! Mr. Berry said the only solution his Council could see to preserve the roads was to prevent these heavy vehicles travelling so fast. The S.M.': If they do that they will put the buses off the road and what will happen then? The railway can’t eater for the passengers. Mr. Berry: Madge Bros, could have obtained permission to increase the speed of their char-a-banc. The S.M.: Sixteen miles an hour is a bit slow. Consulting the regulations, the S.M. said that if a bus was equipped with solid tyres it was allowed to go a whole 7 miles per hour! (Laughter). The maximum speed allowed buses fitted with pneumatic tyres was 14 miles per hour plus twenty per c,ent. This regulation, if enforced, simply meant that the busses would have to go off the roads. If the Railway Department wanted to cater for the travelling public it should put on steam or petrol busses. It was no use asking anyone to travel on the “whitebait express.” There was no comfort or any convenience. The first class accommodation was not fit for second class travelling. The busses were a convenience to the public and the Council should remember this fact. Defendant would be convicted and discharged although the S.M. was in two minds as to whether he should dismiss the case as trivial.