R.E. in Dispute on Land Ownership
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F1VE Oban taxi-drivers who had been U charged by the Railway Executive under the railway by-laws with leaving their vehicles in front of Oban railway station for a period longer than necessary to conduct their lawful business, were found not guilty last week, at Oban.
During the hearing of the evidence. which lasted two days, the right of the Railway Executive to regulate the public use of ground in front of the station was challenged. It was claimed for the defence that the ground in question had always been rewarded as part of the public street. as the town council had maintained its surface for more than 30 years. The town clerk, Mr. Archibald McInnes, and the surveyor, Mr. David Galloway, supported this claim.
Officials of the Railway Executive produced old documents purporting to show that the ground belonged to the railway authorities.
Sheriff-substitute A. NI. Chalmers said • that the complaints were quasicriminal and the court could not go out of its way to determine the questions of civil rights involved.
He added that tor many years the taxis had been allowed to stand at the entrance to the station without let or hindrance, and there was nothing at the spot to indicate that the ground belonged to the Railway Executive. It was clearly the duty of the Railway Exective, which was well aware of the practice. to affix copies of the appropriate by-laws in front of the station.
STOP AND GO
DESPITE the expansion of national production, there was no sign of a margin of finance for road improvements, Mr. Herbert Morrison said at a dinner of the Automobile Association. in London, last week.
At the same time, Dr. W. H. Glanville, director of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research,, told the Institute of Civil Engineers that Britain's industrial system was being retarded by the idadequacy of the roads.
ROAD FUND STATEMENT
THE total of the Road Fund for 1949-50 was £26,168,000, of which £1,658,000 was the balance in hand at the beginning of the year. A sum of £25,896,000 was spent on roads, leaving a balance of £272,000 at March 31. 1950.
The Minister of Transport gave this information recently in a written reply to Sir Waldron Smithers.
The "Course in Wheel Alignment" manual is available to the trade at £1 Is. per copy from the Weaver Manufacturing and Engineering Co., Ltd., Bedford.