[19th December, 1862.]

Preamble.

Whereas in order to prevent inconvenience and danger to persons travelling by common or public carriages conveying passengers for hire in the Province of Otago and the loss of or injury to parcels packages or property so conveyed it is expedient that such carriages should be regulated in manner hereinafter mentioned :

Be It Therefore Enacted by the Superintendent of the said Province with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows :

Common or public carriages to be licensed.

1. From and after the first day of January next it shall not be lawful for any person to keep any carriage used or employed as a common or public carriage unless such person shall have a license in force so to do granted to him under the authority of this Ordinance nor unless the several particulars directed to be painted on every such carriage shall be painted thereon.

What shall be deemed a public carriage.

2. Every coach waggon van cart or other carriage or vehicle used employed or let out for the purpose of conveying passengers parcels and packages and every coach waggon van cart or other carriage or vehicle used employed or let out for the purpose of conveying only parcels packages and goods for hire to or from different parts in the Province of Otago shall be deemed and taken to be a common or public carriage within the meaning of this Ordinance.

License how to be issued.

3. It shall be lawful for the Superintendent to direct every such license to be issued by the Provincial Treasurer of the said Province or any other person duly authorised in that behalf to any person applying for the same in manner hereinafter mentioned and every such license (to be called a Public Carriage License) shall be in either of the forms in the Schedule hereunto annexed according as the carriage to be licensed is to be used or employed for the conveyance of passengers and luggage parcels and packages or for the conveyance of parcels packages and goods only.

The number of passengers to be determined under certain restrictions.

4. Before any such license shall be granted for or in respect of any carriage to be used or employed for conveying passengers the carriage in respect of which such license is applied for shall be exhibited to the Superintendent or such officer as the Superintendent may appoint in that behalf at the time and place appointed by him or by such officer for determining on the application for such license and it shall be lawful for the Superintendent upon such examination of such carriage to determine the number of passengers which may be safely and conveniently carried by such carriage both in the inside and outside thereof and in or on what part thereof luggage parcels and packages may be carried and to what extent.

Persons applying for carriage license to sign a requisition.

5. Before any license shall be granted or renewed for or in respect of any common or public carriage a requisition for such license shall be made and signed by the proprietor or one of the proprietors of such carriage and in every such requisition there shall be truly specified and set forth the name and surname and place of abode of the person applying for such license and of every person who shall be a proprietor or part proprietor of such carriage or who shall be concerned either solely or in partnership with any other person in the keeping using or employing of such carriage and in case any person shall neglect or omit to specify truly in such requisition as aforesaid the name of any person who shall be concerned as page 44 aforesaid in the keeping using or employing of such carriage every person so offending shall forfeit any sum not exceeding ten pounds.

Particulars to be specified in public carriage licenses.

6. There shall be specified in every license to be granted or renewed under this Ordinance the following particulars that is to say the name and surname and place of abode of the person and of every person who shall be a proprietor or part proprietor of the carriage in respect of which such license shall be granted or who shall be concerned either solely or in partnership with any other person in the keeping using or employing of such carriage and in the case of a license of a carriage for conveying passengers the greatest number of passengers to be conveyed by such carriage as shall have been determined as aforesaid distinguishing (when the same is intended to convey both inside and outside passengers) the number to be carried on or about the outside from the number to be carried in the inside of such carriage and in or on what part thereof luggage parcels and packages may be carried and to what extent and a copy of every such license shall be registered in a book to be kept at the office or place from which such license shall be issued in order that any person may have a copy thereof on paying one shilling for the same.

Licenses to be renewed annually.

7. Every license granted under the authority of this Ordinance shall be and continue in force from the day of the date thereof until the thirtieth day of September then next ensuing and no longer and every such license shall be renewed from year to year and whenever any change in the owners or proprietors of any common or public carriage shall take place subject to all such and the like rules and regulations as are hereinbefore provided with respect to the granting of original licenses : Provided however that all licenses which shall be granted or renewed in the month of September in any year shall be and continue in force until the thirtieth day of September in the year then next ensuing and no longer.

Fee on licenses.

8. There shall be paid to the Provincial Treasurer or any other person duly authorised in that behalf at issuing any such license a fee of ten shillings which sum together with any sum or sums which may be received for a copy of the same as hereinbefore directed shall be applied and appropriated to the public uses of the said Province as the Provincial Legislature thereof shall direct.

Penalty for keeping a public carriage without a license.

9. If any person shall keep or use or shall be concerned as proprietor or part proprietor in the keeping or using of any carriage used and employed as a common or public carriage as aforesaid without having a license in force so to do granted under the authority of this Ordinance every person so offending shall forfeit any sum not exceeding twenty pounds.

Particulars to be painted oh public carriage.

10. No common or public carriage shall be used or employed unless or until there shall be truly painted in words at length and in legible and conspicuous letters one inch at the least in height and of a proper and proportionate breadth and in color different from and opposite to the color page 45 of the ground on which such letters shall be painted upon some conspicuous part of the off side of such carriage and clear of the wheel or wheels thereof so that the same shall be at all times plainly and distinctly visible and legible the name and surname of the proprietor or of one of the proprietors of such carriage and there shall also be painted in manner aforesaid upon some conspicuous place on the back of every such carriage licensed to carry passengers so that the same shall be at all times plainly and distinctly visible and legible the greatest number of passengers allowed to be carried in or by such carriage and also when such carriage shall be licensed to carry both inside and outside passengers the greatest number of passengers allowed to be taken in the inside and on the outside respectively and if any person shall keep or use any carriage as a common or public carriage upon which all such particulars required to be painted thereon as aforesaid shall not be truly painted in such legible and conspicuous letters in manlier aforesaid or in case such particulars or any of them shall be partially obliterated or defaced from or upon any such carriage then if, any such person shall neglect to paint or cause to be painted again in manner aforesaid every particular so obliterated or defaced such person so offending in any of the cases aforesaid shall forfeit a sum not exceeding five pounds.

No person to sit or be carried oil luggage on the roof.

11. No person shall be allowed to sit or be carried upon any luggage placed on the roof of any carriage licensed to carry passengers as aforesaid: And if any person shall sit or be carried upon any luggage placed as aforesaid the driver thereof at the time when any such offence shall be committed shall forfeit a sum not exceeding five pounds.

Penalty for carrying a greater number of passengers than authorised by license.

12. If the number of passengers at any one time conveyed in upon or about any carriage licensed to carry passengers shall be greater in the whole than the number of passengers which the license granted in respect of such carriage shall authorise or allow to be conveyed thereby or if the number of passengers at any one conveyed in the inside of such carriage or upon or about the outside thereof shall be greater respectively than the greatest number of inside or outside passengers respectively specified in or upon such license and allowed thereby the person or persons to whom such license shall have been granted shall forfeit any sum not exceeding five pounds for every passenger so conveyed above the number allowed by such license to be conveyed in the whole or in the inside or on or about the outside of such carriage respectively and the driver of such carriage at the time when such offence shall be committed shall also forfeit a sum not exceeding five pounds.

Penalty on the driver endangering passengers or property through negligence, &c.

13. If the driver or other person having the care of any common or public carriage or employed in or upon or about such carriage shall through intoxication or negligence or by wanton or furious driving or by or through any other misconduct endanger the safety of any passenger or other person or shall injure and endanger the property of the owner or page 46 proprietor of such carriage or of any other person every such person so offending shall forfeit a sum not exceeding ten pounds.

Owner to be liable for penalties in cases where driver cannot be found.

14. Whenever it shall happen that the driver or other person having the care of any common or public carriage or employed in or about the same shall have committed any offence against this Ordinance for the commission whereof any penalty is by this Ordinance imposed upon such person so offending and not upon the proprietor of such carriage and such person so offending shall not be known or being known cannot be found then the proprietor of such carriage shall be liable to every such penalty as if he had been the person actually offending : Provided always that if any such proprietor shall make out to the satisfaction of the Justices of the Peace by whom any complaint or information shall be heard by sufficient evidence not resting on his own testimony that the offence was committed without the privity or knowledge of such person and that no profit advantage or benefit either directly or indirectly has accrued or can accrue to such proprietor therefrom and that he has used his endeavour to find out such driver or other person so offending and giving all reasonable information in answer to enquires respecting him such Justice shall discharge such proprietor from such penalty and shall levy the same upon such driver or other person actually offending.

Offences to be dealt with in a summary way.

15. All offences against this Ordinance shall be heard and determined and all fines and penalties shall be recovered in a summary way.

Ordinance not to prevent actions for damages.

16. Nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to prevent any passenger by any such carriage who shall have suffered injury through the intoxication or negligence or the wanton and furious driving or other misconduct of the driver or other person having the care of such carriage or to prevent any person who shall have suffered damage by the loss or injury of any parcel package or property in the conveyance thereof by any such carriage or while under the care of any such carrier from claiming in any competent Court full satisfaction for any damage sustained by any such passenger or other person.

Short title.

17. This Ordinance shall be termed and may be cited and referred to as the "Licensed Carriages Ordinance 1862."

Schedule Referred To

Form of License for a Common or Public Carriage to be Used for Conveying Passengers.

Whereas A. A. [for A. B. and C. D. naming the proprietor or proprietors] have a certain carriage being [here insert in general terms the description of carriage whether a coach waggon van or cart and the number of wheels] having applied to the Superintendent of the Province of Otago to grant to him [or them as the case may be] a License to authorise him [or them] to keep use and employ the said carriage, *and the said carriage having been exhibited and examined and the Superintendent being satisfied that the said carriage is calculated safely and conveniently page 47 to carry the number of passengers hereinafter mentioned I do hereby in pursuance of the authority in me vested by the "Licensed Carriages Ordinance 1862" authorise and license the said A. B. [or A. B. and C. D.] to carry and convey in and by the said carriage that is to say the number of passengers____in the inside and____passengers on the outside thereof and luggage parcels and

packages in (here specify the part or parts of the carriage where such may be carried and if on the top to what height or other extent)* subject to the several regulations and provisions of the said recited Ordinances. This License to cease and determine on the thirtieth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and

Given under my hand this____day of____186

Form of License for a Common or Public Carriage to be Used for Conveying Goods.

The foregoing Form omitting the part thereof within asterisks and inserting instead :—I do hereby in pursuance of the authority in me vested by the "Licensed Carriage Ordinance 1862" authorise and license the said A.B. [or A. B. and C. D.] to carry and convey in and by the said carriage parcels packages and goods.