Fur Flies in, Road-Rail Wrangle
Page 39
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TEMPER ran high in a case before 1 the Southern Scotland Licensing Authority, at Edinburgh, last week, and parties to it were several times rebuked by Mr. Archibald Henderson.
Messrs. William Rodger and Sons, Earlston, Berwickshire, applied for the. addition of four vehicles (18 tons) to an A licence. Mr. D. McKay, for the applicants, objected to the appearance of the L.M.S. Railway Co. in the case, on the ground that the railway did not serve the area in respect of which objection was lodged, namely, Earlston, and, therefore, had no locus standi.
Mr. W. Weir, for the L.M.S., replied that, if the applicants intended to operate only from the Earlston area, his objection would not be admissible, but he believed to the contrary and wished to be heard. Mr. Henderson allowed Mr. Weir to take part in the case, although he said it was conceivable that Mr. McKay's objection would have been upheld in a court of law.
Mr. William Rodger, director, said that the business had been in existence for more than 100 years, and that his firm operated 22 vehicles (65 tons). La 1936, they took over the trunk service of Messrs. White and La.idlaw.
Recently, owing to excessive haulage work, they had had to use the fleet almost day and ,night and employ mechanics as drivers. Although a large percentage of the increased work arose from county council road requirements. Messrs. Rodger could not furnish evidence on this point, because the surveyor refused to support any individual application.
Replying to a suggestion that they secured traffic by undercutting railway rates after quotations had been made, Mr. Rodger stated that his firm's rates were actually higher than those of the
Mr. Henderson removed the hiring allowance from the licence and authorized -two extra vehicles (9 tons).