HAMILTON BUS SERVICES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 280, 16 February 1928, Page 15

HAMILTON BUS SERVICES

INCREASE IN FARES SOME HEATED DISCUSSION (From Otur Own Correspondent) HAMILTON. To-day. The application of Buses, Ltd., to the Hamilton Borough Council, as the licensing authority, for permission to increase fares, stirred up a breezy meeting last night, when councillors frankly dissociated themselves from one another. Heated argument ensued, Cr. J. Benz maintaining the council had no right to demand the production of the books of a private concern such as Buses, Ltd. The Mayor took up the attitude that the bus company had been casual in its latest approaches to the council, and eventually decision was deferred., the meeting being adjourned pending the submission of a certified statement of the company’s affairs. Heated exchanges were contained in quite a number of personal references. Buses, Ltd., stated a reduction of the fare from 4d to 3d meant a loss of £1,200 a year to them. The additional expense incurred over five months ending January 31 was assessed at £2,607, including £1,200 extra in wages for drivers in compliance with the award, £540 petrol tax and £306 ISs in heavy traffic fees. The routes on which it was proposed to raise the fare were the Hamilton Hast and Franfcton runs.