REGISTRATION OF MOTOR-CARS

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 21024, 28 November 1933, Page 18

REGISTRATION OF MOTOR-CARS

ANNUAL NUMBER PLATE 3 The. system of using a new number plate every time a motor vehicle it reregistered was declared to be ridiculous by Mr Justice Ostler in the Supreme Court yesterday morning. • His Honour referred to the English system of allowing the existing number issued to a motor-car to remain, a disc being attached when the vehicle was reregistered. iriii s ?S nour said that for years in Jt-ngiand the system had been in vogue 01 . Placing discs on motor vehicles ™ nen .the annual registration fee was paia; the number plate was not altered, touch a method was different from the ridiculous New Zealand practice, wnich required the plates to be changed annually. tThis matter was referred to Mr J. »• Hawkes, secretary to the Canter-, bury Automobile Association, who expressed surprise at Mr Justice Ostler's statement. He stated that before this system had been initiated he had not been in favour of it—he had, in fact, fought strenuously against it—but he was now satisfied that it was the most efficient system that could have been adopted by the authorities. His reason for approving the system was that it provided an immediate proof that the car was not only licensed, but also that it had been insured. The idea of a fixed number plate and a changing license, as was the custom in England, provided no sure proof of either registration or insurance. The present system he regarded as fool-proof, the previous one as doubtful, and not in flhe interests of public safety 4