this suggestion.
165
Who
Is this 2. Taxi's
et
visi
(c) Utility Companies.
As regards the telephone
Company, their present franchise is unsatisfactory both
to the Company and to the Government, and the Committee
suggests a revision which would remove features objection-
able to the Company and at the same time secure higher
royalties for the Governemnt.
The Gas and Electricity Companies enjoy
monopolies of fact but not of law: they pay no royalties
to Government and their charges are at present unregulated.
The Committee consider that their monopoly should be
made a legal one, that in return for this they should pay
royalties to Government and might reasonably be required
to submit to a regulation of charges. As a basic
principle the Committee recommend that royalty should be
calculated with relation to the profits in excess of
some agreed minimum return on capital.
The Committee recommend the conversion of the
taxi services plying for hire on the streets into
monopolies on public utility lines, paying royalties to
Government. Some increase in the licence fees of public
vehicles not plying for hire on the streets would then
probably be necessary in order to maintain equality of
treatment between them and the taxis. It is proposed
to await public reaction before any action is taken on
this recommendation.
?bn
As the royalties paid to the Transport Companies
are already tending to increase, (the tramways will be
paying 25 per cent of their working profits in the near
future), the Committee recommend that the present
arrangements should be left undisturbed.
In the absence
of
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.