MOTOR TRAFFIC

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 26, 30 July 1912, Page 4

MOTOR TRAFFIC

REGISTRATION & REGULATION Several remits dealing with the question of motor regulation and the relation of the motorist to the community stand in the order^ paper of the Municipal Conference and some were discussed and' dealt with yesterday. A formal motion was adopted to amend, certain terms in The Motor Regulation Act, 1908, with a view ito making the registering authority the council of any borough or county, the board of any town district, and the board of any road district. Tho remit came from Napier. From tho same source came a more important remit, as follows, moved by Mr. A. Murray :— "That The Motor Regulation Act, 1908, be amended by repealing sections 14 and 15 thereof, and by substituting the following : 14. Every motor shall be registered with the registering authority ol the district in which the owner of such motor either ', lives or has his place of business, and ' such registration shall have effect throughout New Zealand. 15. (1) Every registration shall be in the form prescribed by regulations, and a fee of £5 may be charged by the registering authority upon the registration of any motor having not less than four wheels and' £1 in the case of a motor having less than four wheels; (2) Every such registration when duly made shall be deemed to be in force from the day on which the same is made until the 31st day of March then next ensuing, and no longer, and such registration shall be again made in like manner from year to year ; (3) No fee shall be chargeable on the registration of any motor in respect of which a license to ply for hire within the district in which the said motor is by this Act required to be registered has been granted while and so long as such license remains in force." It was decided to take the motion clause by clause. Mr. T. K. Sidey, M.P., said the remit opened up a broader question as 'to whether the motor Vehicle- should' not M be taxed for the maintenance of arterial roads- -throughout the Dominion: Hon. T. W. Hislop said he did not know why motor-cars should be selected out of all vehicles for registration and taxation and be attacked in such way. Why should not buggies, traps, and horse-vehicles be registered and taxed also ? "It seems to me," • said the speaker, "it is only a way of trying to shove taxation on, somebody else". It could only have the effect of removing from motorists of moderate means the ability to run a motor-car. It. is only an attempt to go back to the old English* system of taxing vehicles by the number of their wheels." The first clause down to "New Zealand" was. carried. At the following clause an amendment was moved to reduce the fee from £5 to £2. Mr. John Fuller, jun., strongly opposed the proposal to 80 heavily tax motor-cars. The conference should not endeavour to discourage the motor industry, but rather to encourage it. The tax should be only bo much as would pay for all expenses connected with registration. Mr. H. Holland (Christchurch) Baid he was convinced that horses and horse vehicles did far more damage to the' streets than did motor-cars, wnich'wera rapidly not becoming a luxury, but a business necessity. For the amendment to reduce the registration fee to £2, the voting was 27 against 24. Mr. Fletcher (Wellington) inovedthat the fee be further reduced to £1. Mr. A. M'Curdy (Upper Hutt) seconded this. The amendment was lost. The fee for motor vehicles with less than four wheels was reduced to 10s. The motion as so amended was carried by 31 to 23. In regard to clause 2, an amendment to strike out all words after "made," so as to make registration not an annually recurring duty but a permanent thing, was adopted by a smSll majority, and the motion So amended was carried by 26 votes to 20. Clause 3 waß deleted. The -whole remit as amended was tnen put and carried j by 26 votes to 21. The conference resolved, on the motion of Mr. Nash (Palmeraton North), That, in order to prevent confusion, the Motor Regulations Act of 1908 be amended so as to provide that each registering body shall be compelled to use the-ini-tials comprising the name of the registering body as an identification mark 'for motors, together with a number commenoing at No. 1. A remit from Christchurch that Borough Councils be enabled to pass bylaws, prohibiting any persons, male ox female, from driving motor care untiU they have obtained a certificate of competency, was adopted, and the conference also decided, on the motion of Mr. D. P. Loaeby (Greytown) that the Government be askexj to make a general provision respecting the speed of motor cars, Mr. J. A. Nash (Mayor of Paliherston North) said in his own town motor earn were known to go round street corners. at a speed of from twenty to thirty miles an hour. It was high time it was put on somebody's shoulders to decide what was a reasonable rate of speed. Mr. W. B. Scandrett (Ohristchurch) agreed, stating that it did not matter co very much what speed a car attained along the straight. Mr. H. Davis (Aehburton) said that eight miles an hour was quite sufficient — in fact he could- hardly get his car to move along sometimes- at that speed. It was Tesolved on the motion of Palmeraton North: — "That the Motor Regulations Act, 1908, be amended «o as to provide for the speed- at which motors may cross intersections of streets and drive around corners of streets in cities and boroughs ; and on the motion, of Auckland : That the Motor Regulations Act, 1908, be amended to give Local Bodies greater power to make by-laws dealing with questions of speed, competency of drivers, brakes, etc., in respect of all cars, whether private or plying for hire."