FARM TRACTORS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 256, 26 September 1935, Page 8

FARM TRACTORS.

ROAD LICENSE FEE,

PLEA FOR EXEMPTION

It is not generally known that farmers’ tractors are subject to a license fee and insurance risk if taken on the road from one farm to another. Speaking in the House of Representatives yesterday, Mr J. A. Nash, M.P., in discussing the request made by the member for Kaiapoi for the exemption of farm tractors from taxation, said that while it might be assumed that a farmer who had ji tractor was in a very good position, the tact was that many farmers bought tractors because they found that they were more economical, in that more work, could be done with them than with hoises, which had to be kept and fed. .tractors might not be very popular in the South Island, but they were used very extensively in the North Island. A number of farmers rarely used the roads in taking tractors from one farm to another, he added, and it was a distinct hardship that they should be called upon to pay the £1 license fee plus the annual charge for the third party risk, also the cost of the number plates. Admittedly, the third party risk was necessary in such cases where tractors were taken on the roads and there was a risk of collision with ordinary motor traffic, but at least the £1 license fee should be waived. He appealed to the Prime Minister to waive the £1 license fee in the interests of the primary producers of the Dominion.