MOTORS & MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2479, 4 June 1915, Page 9

MOTORS & MOTORING

[By CLUTOH.) Motor Union Meeting. A meeting of tlio executive of tlio New Zealand Automobile Union was hold at tlio office of Sir. Be.iuclJ.niil> I'latts, Secretary of the Union, 011 Friday last for the purpose of deciding upon the several matters to lie brought up for discussion at the meeting of the delegates of the several associations which are members of the union to be held ill the beginning of July. There ivere present: Sir. I'. S. 11' Lean (the p;osidoiit), Hawke's l!a\ ; Mr.- 11. Elgar, Wairarixpa; llr. Johnston, Canterbury ; -Mr. Banks, Wellington; llr. Young, Wellington,' Dr. Knight, Wellington; and the secretary. The two principal matters decided upon for the consideration of tlio delegates were the nature of tlie proposed motor-tax and the necessity for national roads in the North and South Islands. At the meeting of the delegates held in July of last year it. was agreed that tlie motor tax' should, fls proposed 111 tlie Motor Bill of last year, bo regulated by horse-power. Much discussion has 'ince taken place, and resolutions have been carried by local bodies and other institutions, some of which have dissented from that view, niul tho executive was of the opinion that another opportunity should _ he afforded to the delegates of discussing the whole position. Pro and Con on the Tax. Ma-. P. S. M'Lean, president of the llotor Union, who has gone very thm onghly into the question of taxation, in the course of conversation, said: The principal suggestions that have been made are: — (1) That the tax should be regulated by horse-power. (2) That it should bo regulated by weight. (3) That it should bo regulated partly by the horse-power and partly by the weight of the car. (4) That the. tax should be levied 011 ties. "The llotor Bill," continued Mr. M'Leau, "proposes a tax regulated by horse-power, and after very full discussion tlie meeting of the uniou delegates last year gave its adhesion to this. It was not considered that weight afforded the necessary elements for fixing -a varying tax —as speed is deemed to have more responsioility_ for damage to roads than weight. Since then suggestions have been made for adopting a combination of weight and horse-power of which the following is an illustration: —Jiorse-power, 20 li.p. at 2s. 6d.; weight, lOcwt. at os.; total tax, £a. l'his suggestion is well worthy of discussion, an dalthough it presents some complications which are not found in a tax imposed 011 horse-power alone. "The tenor of the several resolutions indicates that the battle will be between a tax 011 horse-poiver and a tax 011 tires. The tax 011 horse-power has been in force in the United Kingdom for many years now, and so far as I know there has been 110 serious proposal to depart from it. The same tax has has been adopted 111 some, if not al< the States of the Commonwealth of Australia, with the exception of Tasmania. • 111 that State a tax on tires was proposed, but whether it has been decided upon or with what result I do not, know. Essential Points. "In deciding 011 the nature of a motor tax there are certain things desirable. I might almost, say essential. La considering these it is to ho at all fciiuos home 111 mind that the proceeds of tho tax are by. the provisions of tho Motor Bill to bo expended in special repair of main roads, and that such proceeds so far as derived from private motor cars a-re to be so expended in tho. provincial district in which tho garages of the private motor carß are situated. These essentials are:— (1) Simplicity in nature of tax. (2) Permanency in nature and amount. (3) Capability of easy apportionment amongst the several districts entitled.. Tho proposed tax on horse-power satisfies all these requirements, the proposed tax 011 combination of horse-power and weight in '& somewhat loss degree satisfies them, hut tlio proposed tax 011 tires does not in my opinion satisfy any of them. "The tax on horse-power or on combined horse-power and weight," llr. M'Loiin pointed out, "would bo fixed by statute, as hi the Motor Bill, and has therefore a degree of permanency which would he wanting in a tax on tires, because the tiro tax would take the form of an import duty. This 1 would coin 6 within th& Customs t&nft, and would be subject to revision every year without ' necessitating tho repeal or amendment of any statute. It must bo obvious to those familiar with Parliament's method of dealing withthe Customs tariff that there is no solemnity or deliberation in dealing with an item in the Customs tariff. The change is made in a minute by a bored or indifferent House, whereas a ohange 111 a tax fixed by special statute would necessitate the usual three readings of ail amending or repealing Bill besides the discussion in Committee. Again, if the tax were the result of a mere item in the Customs tariff, motorists would wake up some morning to find that motor-cars had been added to the tariff lists while tires still remained on it. It is practically certain that the public has made up its mind to have a tax on motor-cars, and that a tax 011 tires wouldnotsatisfy it. Defccts of a Tire Tax. "There aro several inherent objections to the tire tax. The first of these is the practical impossibility of apportioning it amongst the several districts for the special maintenance of roads. Tires would be imported indiscriminately at the various ports of tho Dominion. The hulk of them would bo discharged at Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and Dunedin, and would pay their import duty there. Another objection is that the motorist would have to pay to the importer a profit 011 the duty ' as well as 011 the tire, which would increase his tax by a considerable percentage, and which increase would not go to the improvement of any roads. A further difficulty is that most tires would be used 011 the worst roads, where, for instance, scoria is the principal metal, the tax would be unusually severe, and assuming that apportionment would be possible amongst the local bodies, the worse they kept the roads the more revenue they would receive. Tlie next difficulty is that taxicabs would be called on to pay a much heavier tax than private carsTho Motor- Bill, recognising that it is not desirable to impose undue burdens on an industry which exists for tno convenience of the public, imposes ft reduced tax on public cars which include taxi-cabs. This is reasonable from another point of view, namely, that the bulk of taxi-cab work is done in towns where the streets are of more permanent and stable construction than country roads, and are therefore less liable to be affected bv motor traffic. The several Taxi-Drivers' Associations throughout the Dominion are taking steps to urge consideration of their interests upon the Government ,in view of the proposals for taxing tires, and there is little doubt that, as their wishes are in acoonlanco with those of the Government as already expressed in the Motor I-.iil, they will be supported. There' is a further difficulty, which suggests itself to mc, ill id ill thought it may be regarded as a minor point I think it worthy of consideration. The more resiliency there is in a tire the leis it damages the road. A solid tire'is more injurious tain, a pneumatic tira, and the nearer

a tire comes to solidity tho moro injurious it must bo. A tax 011 tires would inevitably iead either to tho use of tire protectors or liners, which invariably lessen resiliency, and would probably indueo tire-makers to manufacture tires approaching to tho solid tire. Push Bicycle Registration. "There is one consideration which I should wish to urge upon the owners of private cars, that is, that they should in considering the fairness of a tax tako into account not only the damage they do to roads, but apart from that the necessity to them of procuring the best of roads. By way of illustration, take the ordinary push cycles. These do not damage the roads, but it is a great advantage to them to have good roads, and I have thought that it would be worth their while to volunteer to pay a small tax of 2s. 6d. and so have the benefit of improved roads as well as ol registration, which would greatly assist in the recovery of stolen bicycles. I am told that such tax is imposed in France, and that a sum approximating to a quarter of a million sterling is received annually from this tax. I have not, however, verified this, but some of your readers may bo in a position to do so. . . 1 "There is one point dealt with in the Motor Bill to which I would call attention," concluded -Mr. M'Lean. "Some local bodies and many individual motorists object to tho tax imposed by tho Motor Bill being less on trade motors than on private motor-cars. They naturally complain that these do more damage to roads than private cars, but this is because they overlook the fact, which is taken into account in the Bill, that local bodies have special powers 11 nder the Public Works Act to provide for aimual or other payments ol any reasonable sum by way of compensation for damage likely to occur to any road, bridge?, etc., from tho use of heavy vehicles. 111 conclusion I feel satisfied that many of the considerations which I have mentioned, have been overlooked by local bodies and motorists, and my wish is by entering thus fully into them to invite them to discuss them."