BUSES TO ALBANY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 368, 31 May 1928, Page 12

BUSES TO ALBANY

DIFFER LICENSING AUTHORITY’S PROBLEM The No. 2 (North Shore) Bus Licensing Authority found itself evenly divided last evening on the question of granting a second licence to run a ser- i vice from Albany to Birkenhead. The j applicant was Mr. Russell Ingham, for whom Mr. N. V. Hubble, appeared. Mr. Ingham, a driver for the Marine Suburbs Bus Company, previously operating on the route, has lately been carrying on a car service on that road in connection with the mail contract; and now finds that a seven-seater car will not accommodate the passengers offering. There were other cars operating on the same run and at the end of February a licence to run a bus service was granted Mr. G. W. Sutcliffe, who has not yet begun his service and was acting “the dog-in-the-manger,” Mr. Hubble claimed. Mr. Manning, for Mr. Sutcliffe, detailed the efforts made by his client to find a bus that would satisfy the requirements of the Public Works engineers and yet comply with the weight limitation (of three tons laden weight), imposed by the Waitemata County Council, which controls the greater part of the road from Albany to Birkenhead. WEIGHT LIMIT INCREASED In an effort to assist Mr. Sutcliffe the county engineer had agreed to increase the weight limit to four tons, but even now a specially-imported chassis would not meet the Public Works demands; for a vehicle designed to carry 16 passengers a licence to carry four persons only would be issued. Mr. Manning claimed that his client could not have done anything more; there was not room for two services. Mr. Hubble then asked for a licence, conditional on having a bus running within three weeks, subject to a qualification, asked for by the Birkenhead Council, that passengers were not to be catered for inside the borough boundaries. Mr. E. Aldridge, chairman of the Licensing Board, moved in terms of Mr. Hubble’s request, but an amendment requiring Mr. Sutcliffe to have a bus operating within three weeks or show cause why his licence should not be revoked was moved by Mr. I. Lyon. The voting was equal, four each way; the chairman gave his casting vote for the amendment.