The Minister Replies
Page 27
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ELSEWHERE in this issue we deal with some observations made by the Minister of Transport on the Road and Rail Traffic Act, but, following these remarks, valuable comments were made on specific points, regarding the exact inter pretation "of which difficulty has arisen.
We inquired if the conversion of a business into a limited company would render void the right to existing licences. We pointed out that if licences were not to be transferable important businesses would be of practically no value as selling assets.
The Transfer of Licences.
We were informed that, whilst Section 21 of the Act forbids the transfer of licences, the analagous provisions of Section 92 (1) of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, did not appear to have prevented legitimate transfers of undertakings; but the new licences are personal to holders, and parties acquiring such undertakings must obtain fresh licences, whilst any change in the constitution of a company or partnership will necessitate new applications.
Similarly, the provisions of the Act with regard to " claimed " tonnage are personal to the operator, but in considering applications for " discretionary " tonnage the licensing authority and objectors will take account of the history of the applicant.
Many hundreds of users are in the position of having purchased a single vehicle of greater unladen weight than that which they operated during the basic year. On our inquiring as to what procedure should be followed in such cases we were told that it would be open for the operator to put in an application for a " hiring allowance" for " claimed " tonnage and a separate " discretionary " application in respect of the unladen weight of the new vehicle, with a note to the effect that if this latter application were granted the previous one would be withdrawn. In some cases public-service vehicles carry general goods traffic, and we consider it important to know whether all such vehicles would remain outside the scope of the licensingscheme. It appears that, in so far as the use is authorized by the road-service licence, the vehicle is excluded from the scope of the new -legislation, but if it be used outside the conditions its employment for the carriage of goods will bring it within the purview of the 1933 Act. It is, therefore, possible for the same vehicle to be subject both to the licensing system under the Act of 1930 and to that under the Act of 1933. This also covers the case of the vehicle with a convertible body.
There has been some doubt in the minds of many as to whether private cars utilized for goods might be brought within the scope of the new Act, as many hundreds are employed in this way. The fact that a car is taxed on the horse-power basis does not affect the matter, and a private car would have to be included in a carrier's licence if it were specially constructed or adapted in some material manner for the carriage of goods, such as equipping it with special shelves or lockers for this purpose.
Vehicle Inspection Not to be Drastic.
Some users are perturbed as to the extent to which the powers to stop unsatisfactory vehicles will be utilized. We are assured, however, that whilst every passenger public-service vehicle is subjected to examination at least once a year, nothing like so complete a programme is contemplated in the examination of goods vehicles. A test examination of one or two vehicles may indicate that the user's standard of maintenance is quite satisfactory.. Serious dislocation of industry might take place if prohibition orders were to be served in respect of every vehicle which might, in the opinion of the examiner, be technically unfit for service.