MOTOR TRAFFIC FEES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18888, 22 December 1924, Page 10

MOTOR TRAFFIC FEES.

An unforeseen feature of the City Council's new scale of charges for heavy motor traffic is that a certain proportion of privately-owned cars, used exclusively by their owners, come within its scope. No doubt, as the Mayor claims, the legal position of the council is perfectly sound. The definition of a motor-vehicle, in tho Public Works Amendment Acl; of this year, designed to provide for the taxing of heavy traffic, draws no distinction between the car plying for hire, and that reserved for the use of the owner. However secure the position may bo legally, it is not equitable that these private cars should be charged in the same manner as lorries and taxi-cabs. They do not use the roads to the same extent, and use of the road is theoretically the basis of imposition. The city motor-owner who employs a car extensively for running about the city naturally chooses 'a light model. The result is that those which come within the ambit of tho new regulation:!! will, generally speaking, be reserved for the use of tho owner and his family when at leisure. It is palpably unfair, therefore, that such heavy fees should bo collected on their account. No attempt has been made to justify a system under which a small difference in weight will rei qu pa one motorist to pay from £12 to £'25 annually for his car, in addition to, the £2 collected 'by the Government, while another with only a slightly fcikallcr car escapes the

heavier levy entirely. Another feature of- the position at which the car-owners may legitimately feel aggrieved is the suddenness with which this new charge has descended upon them. The Mayor has shown that it was necessary to have the bylaws enacted before the New Year. But was it necessary to leave the explanation of their full significance and application until the business had been completed'( It is not surprising that motorisva on whom the excessive levy wii? fall are angered as well as amazed at the unexpected consequences of regulations previously supposed to apply only to commercial vehicles using the roads continuously.