CAR REGISTRATION

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 270, 10 August 1943, Page 2

CAR REGISTRATION

Alleged Excessive Charges REPLY TO MINISTER “Mr. Webb has given a very belated reply to Mr. McKeen, in Parliament, regarding the exorbitant charges made by the Post and Telegraph Department for motor vehicle registration plates, and stickers,” said'Mr. E. A. Batt, chairman of the council of the Automobile Association (Wellington), yesterday. “It can reasonably be assumed that the Minister, as Postmaster-General, has m the meantime obtained from his otiicers all the facts and figures," said Mr. .Butt. “If this is. correct, why does he in the first place state that the ‘actual’ cost, of car stickers is over £4 a thousand? It is therefore not the actual cost, but an approximate figure. However, the figure given by the Minister 'divulges that tiie stickers cost not more than Id. each while motor vehicle owners are charged Gd., and should a sticker require replacement the vehicle owner is charged 1/- for the replacement. “The amount of £lOB,OOO profit on number plates quoted bj the Minister, though he does not say so. actually refers to a past period, from 1924 to 1933. The up-to-date and complete returns obtained from official . records and quoted by me covering the period from 1021 to 1042, show that tho Post and Telegraph Department made a profit on number plates of £245,342, in addition to which (and the Minister for reasons best known to himself omitted to mention) the department received £392,557, being 1/6 a. transaction in licensing, registering, and transfers of vehicles, to cover the dc■partment’s expenditure in performing this service, or a total amount of £637.899, an average of £35,439 a year.

“All these figures are from official records, and it is misleading for the Minister to challenge their accuracy, because he has access to the official documents from which they were obtained.’ Allowing for all the checking, etc., which the Minister refers to, the public can only be left with the impression that the department is making an exorbitant profit and that. if. is a subtle method of extracting taxation from motor vehicle owners who, as T have shown iu figures relating to petrol and other vehicle taxes, are being exploited through an easy and inexpensive method of collecting tax-a-tion.”