PLATES AND STICKERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 150, 26 June 1943, Page 6

PLATES AND STICKERS

DEPARTMENT'S PROFITS With reference to the ■ discussion which recently took place at the meeting of the North Island. Motor Union about the charge made for car licence stickers, Mr. E. A. Batt, chairman of the1 executive of the' Wellington Automobile Association, said today, that he had gone into the whole question of the charges made.by the Post,and Telegraph .Department for licence plates and stickers fx-om. 1924, to. the present. "The most-recent complaint about the exorbitant charge" is: a repetition of complaints made over a period of years," he said. "However, it is of considerable interest to motor vehicle owners throughout New Zealand- to know what revenue has been secured by the Post and Telegraph Department for the services provided in the registration and licensing of motor vehicles. . '.'The Motor Vehicles Act became effective in 1924, and in that year 99,233 vehicles were registered. Registrations rose to the highest peak in 1939-40, when 317,526 vehicles were registered. "It should be stated at the cutset and to avoid confusion, that under the Act the Post and Telegraph Department'is entitled to receive from the Main Highways Board Is 6d, for each vehicle registered or licensed and for each" transfer of a vehicle, and.that this amount was determined as a fair payment . for all work involved. In, this way the Department received, from 1924 to 1942, approximately £392,557, or an average of £21,809 per annum. "But despite this enormous revenue, which ho doubt far exceeded the anticipations of the authorities, it is found that' motor vehicle owners haye during the same period paid £454,092 for i number plates which cost the Department £208,750, the difference between these two amounts being a profit of £245,342, an average of £13,630 per annum. This in turn represents' a profit of 117 per cent, on the cost of the number plates. . . "Tlfe Post- and Telegraph Department has- therefore received for its services, from 1924 to 1942, a total of £637,899, or an average of £35,439 per annum." Motorists had through their .associations repeatedly made requests for a reduction in the prices of number plates, the average cost of which to the Department had" been 11 Jd for a set of two, but fdr .which the department had made a charge of 2s 6d to the vehicle owner, until, as a result of repeated representations, the charge was reduced to 2s a set, continued ' Mr. Batt. In the year 1942-43 windscreen stickers were used instead of numberplates, and there again it was found that though these stickers had cost the Department £4222, they were sold for £7466, a profit to the Department of £3244. . .' . "The foregoing indicates quite clearly that the Government should review the cost to motor vehicle owners with t the object of making a substantial reduction in the charge for tokens of licensing," said Mr. Batt. "It is obvious that the Post and Telegraph Department is enjoying a very substantial surplus over and above the cost of the service it renders, and is enjoying a rate of profit on goods sold which no private trader wouM be permitted by the Price- Tribunal, and this on top of the revenue assured, of Is 6d for each registration and transfer, paid by tlie Main Highways Board." ' '