MOTOR VEHICLES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 246, 18 October 1927, Page 5

MOTOR VEHICLES.

LICENSING SIMPLIFIED.

GOrKSNMENT AND LOCAL BODIFS

LOSE EXEMPTION.

(By Telejjraph. — Parliamentary Reporter.. WELLINGTON, Monday. The Motor Vehicles Amendment BUI, introduced by Governor's Message and read a first time in the House, simplifies the licensing system, and will, after April next, bring the Crown within the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. The bill proposes to repeal a provision in the original Act that motor vehicles used by a public authority, and exclusively for general and local purposes, also vehicles used for purposes of a public nature, are to be exempt from licensing registration fees. The Governor-General's motors also lose their former exemption. It is explained that the object of the clause binding the Crown is to secure, for purposes of the Main Highways account, the registration fees and license fees that will thus become payable in respect of State-owned motor vehicles.

Motor Dealers' Licenses. Unregistered vehicles used by motor dealers will pay higher fees—lo/ instead of 5/ for registration plates for motor bicycles, and £2 instead of 10/ for other motor vehicles. The original Act enabled these plates to be used only on vehicles intended for sale, but they may now be used also for purposes of the owner as manufacturer or dealer in motor vehicles.

General License Conditions. A new clause will enable registration or licensing of motor vehicles to be effected in any district, instead of, as at present, only in the district in which the garage of the vehicle is situated. This change of precedure renders unnecessary the giving of information as to garages. The present practice of renewing registration plates annually, instead of issuing an annual license in documentary form, is regularised. Another clause is to provide for the annual renewal of licenses to take place in June, instead of in April, of each year. Authority is given to refund a proportionate part of the annual fee paid in respect of a motor vehicle if it is destroyed or permanently removed from the Dominion service.

Car Licenses. A contested point relating to service ear licenses will be settled by a clause to protect the owner of a motor vehicle plying for hire in more than one district from, being required by several local authorities to pay a license fee in each district. The proposal contained in the clause is that such a fee may be charged only in the district where there is a garage provided for the vehicle. The bill provides fresh definitions of trade motors, to make clearer the weights to be carried and tyres used in respect of each item in the licensing scale without an actual increase in fees. A pneumatic tyre, it is stated, must be inflated by pressure introduced from time to time, and air space must be more than one half of the total volume. The maximum penalty for a breach of the Motor Vehicles Regulations is increased from £20 to £50.