WASTE-LANDS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 6 October 1928, Page 14

WASTE-LANDS.

A SURPRISE PACKET. A surprise awaited motorists who drove into some of the streets of Melbourne recently to leave tlfeir ears in areas formally constituted by the City Council as parking areas. They were met by plain-clothes attendants who demanded Is parking ice. claiming that tliev represented the “Highways Association.” They distributed circulars indicating that the area oi land was licensed from the Crown and was now a “private open-air garage.” Inquiries revealed that the circular was distributed by “J- T. Millane, secretary pro tern of the Highway Association.”

The circular, a remarkable document, endeavoured to justify the collection of the parking fee by a private individual. Alter the recent judgment of the Supreme Court quashing 1 the City Council by-law for the payment of a parking fee, the.parking areas in the streets, it was claimed, became “waste laud” and were now legally public leasehold or freehold land which could be used for any business whatever. Anyone was entitled to peg out and license these areas as any mallee selector or immigrant. Owners of motors using the areas were advised to pav in advance or buy weekly tickets. ~ Vehicles, it was impudently claimed, could he detained' till payment was made. Surplus funds, it was said, were to be used for the protection'of patrons from “Melbourne City Council vexatious prosecutions.” Nobody in the city had heard of the •‘Highway Association,” and by noon City Council officials who investigated the reports could find none of the men who operated in the streets. It was estimated that anything from £lO to J £ls was paid in tees by unsuspecting motorists.