‘Midnight curfew’ may be lifted

Press, 12 July 1979, Page 3

‘Midnight curfew’ may be lifted

PA Wellington The Minister of Energy (Mr Birch) has agreed that the “midnight curfew” imposed on motorists under the earless days scheme should be lifted. Under present regulations, a earless day will begin at midnight and run to the midnight after. The Statutes Revision Committee has recommended. among other things, that a earless day start at 2 a.m. so that people who gp out the evening before will have time to drive home. Mr Birch told Parliament yesterday that he agreed entirely with this recommendation. Evidence before the committee supported that which he had been given, he said. “I am therefore prepared to recommend to the Government that that change be made,” he said. Mr Birch said he agreed entirely with three of the committee’s eight recommendations, including the one covering the 2 a.m. start, and considered that there were valid arguments

i for another three recommendations. ’ Mr Birch said he would : recommend to the cabinet ' . that the regulations be • changed to allow a person : > to change a earless day in cases of “undue” hardship, i , rather than “extreme” hard- i ; ship. ■ He would also recommend i another change, suggested : ; by the committee, giving the . Minister power to allow : , people to use their cars on a 1 ! nominated earless day in i i places where public trans- 1 [ port was not running for ’ certain periods. There was a valid argu- i ■ ment for adopting a further . three of the committee’s i recommendations covering ; exemptions to the week-end : sales ban and earless days ' for occupational and welfare 1 reasons, Mr Birph said. < But he added: “I would s simply counsel the House by 1 saying that it is very diffi- i cult properly and equitably to administer regulations 1 which give provision for i widespread discretion by the : Secretary for Energy.” i There were many welfare < i organisations and it was bet- ;

ter for them to organise their activities round the earless day regulations wherever possible. However, some provision should be made for exemptions where it was not possible to do this, Mr Birch said. He said that as a result of correspondence both to himself and the Ministry of Energy, the Government itself felt that there would have to be certain minor modifications to the regulations, but it had decided not to implement these before the Statutes Revision Committee reported back to Parliament. Mr Birch strongly denied suggestions by Mr R. W. Prebble (Labour, Auckland Central) that no evidence had been put before the committee to show there had been any savings from the week-end ban on petrol sales. Figures showed that there had been a savings of 2 per cent over 1978, Mr Birch said. That represented a saving of more than 5 per cent on the predicted consumption for 1979.