Sir John Beaumont.-

This is an appeal by special leave from the judgment of the Supreme Court of Ceylon dated 21st June 1943, reversing a majority decision of the Tribunal of Appeal constituted under the Motor Car Ordinance (45 [XLV] of 1938) which had affirmed an order of the Commissioner of Motor Transport, dated 13th January 1943, granting to the appellant and refusing the respondent an exclusive road service licence under the Omnibus Service Licensing Ordinance (17 [XLVII] of 1942) for the route from Colombo to Ratnapura. The question at issue is whether the appellant or the respondent at the material date held the greater number of licences authorising the use of omnibuses on the route Colombo to Ratnapura, and the answer to that question depends upon whether the only licences to be reckoned under the relevant legislation are those confined to the route Colombo to Ratnapura as the respondent contends, or whether licences covering the whole of that route and also some further distances beyond Colombo or Ratnapura or both are to be reckoned, as the appellant contends.

[2] To determine this question it is necessary to notice the relevant provisions of the Motor Car Ordinance (45 [x