Registration of Bicycles

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22004, 30 January 1937, Page 12

Registration of Bicycles

The Minister for Transport, who unwillingly dropped from the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act a clause requiring the registration of bicycles, has indicated that he will again attempt to legislate on the same lines; and he will deserve thanks if he succeeds. In the meantime, registration has been left to the discretion of local authorities; but although a model by-law has been drafted to assist them, few if any have adopted it. It is more than mildly surprising that in Christchurch, for example, where the bicycle largely contributes to the difficulty of traffic control and to the risks of the road, the City Council should show itself indifferent to an obvious and easy means of making control more efficient. What is conspicuously true in Christchurch, however, is true everywhere else. Moreover, few offences are commoner than the theft of bicycles: and registration would give owners more security than they have now and thieves much less. The registration fee proposed last year was one shilling, a final, not an annual payment; and it is a small price for the advantages of a registration system.