• LEEDS TRANSPORT OWNERS' DINNER.
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THEprincipal speaker at the annual dinner of the Leeds and County Motor Transport. Association, which was held at the Griffin Hotel, Leeds, on January 14th, was Mr. A. Masser, the legal adviser to the Association, who gave some outspoken advice;to the mentbers of the Association, which also applied to the industry generally. The dinner was presided over by.1V1r. James Mahe, of the Mann Patent Cart. and Steam Wagon CO., Ltd.; arid. after 'the toast of " The Leeds and Csiunty Motor Transport Association" had been proposed by Mr. Atkinson, of Karrier Motors, Ltd., Huddersfield, and responded to on behalf of the members by Mr. Butterwick, Mr. Masser proposed" The Visitors."
Mr. Masser touched upon the growth of road transport, and contrasted some of the earliest motor vehicle'. rune with the condition of affairs at present, when vehicles . from all parts of the country were passing through Leeds, and when he had had to appear in all parts
B12 of England, Scotland, and Wales to answer summonses for delinquencies of slime master or some man in sending out from Leeds machines which did not strictly comply with the letter of the law.
• " You have to remember in these days that ,you are the butt of every policeman, ' he added. First the cyclist, their the motorist, and now the man on the motor lorry had been the target for police activity, and although he did not wish to take up the r6le of lecturing them, he thought a little more care ought to he taken in sending out vehicles, especially in regard to identification plates and axle weights. He also said something with regard to driving mirrors.
Proceeding, Mr. Masser said he knew there seemed to be no earthly reason why they should be compelled to stick to the 12 miles per hour limit, but what had appalled him had been the way in which owners had allowed anything in the region of 2200 per week to be taken from their pockets in fines by the regular working of traps such as those they had seen at Preston during last summer. Continuing, Mr. Masser said during the year their legal department had had 250 cases, and 60 per cent, of these cases had been dismissed on payment of costs, or dismissed on their merits. Where the decisions had gone against them they had had occasion to appeal in five cases on points of law which seriously affected the industry. In all the five eases they had been successful on appeal. During the next few days a case would come on for appeal against the decision of the Stipendiary of Leeds in regard to charasbancs stands, and the decision would have a far-reaching effect. Proceeding, Mr. Masser said many of them had started in a comparatively small way, but bad made progress, and the invested capital in the industry so far as the Association was concerned approximated to a sum of a million pounds. That. meant that they had a big stake in the country's industry.