HEAVY TRAFFIC FEES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18965, 12 March 1925, Page 10

HEAVY TRAFFIC FEES.

CITY BY-LAW EFFECTIVE. OBSTRUCTION BY OWNERS. THE COUNCIL TO PROSECUTE. Owners of vehicles coming under tho definition of heavy traffic are now taking out licenses with the City Council much more readily than has been tho case since the new fees came into operation, but there is still some opposition to the imposition of these fees, and the council will shortly take legal action to enforce its by-law. An intimation to this effect was given yesterday by tho Mayor, Sir James Gunson, who said the City Council's by-law fixing the fees which came into operation on January 1 would stand for the currency of the present year, the position having been made clear by the statement of the Minister for Public Works in regard to the proposed Dominion-wide regulations and their bearing on tho council's by-law. While a very largo number of owners had taken out' licenses under this by-law there was a section which seemed determined to resist the local governing authorities and tho council's administration. In view of this tho city solicitor was taking prompt action to bring theso objectors into line, as the matter had been allowed to go quite far enough. The council now had no alternative but to resort to its legal remedy. It. was very gratifying, however, to note that, since the statement by the Minister a very large number of licenses had been taken out in addition to those applied for after the publication of the by-law. Dealing w.Uh the financial return from these fees, the Mayor said that the. total revenue was already in excess of that of tho previous vear, but until tho council had cleared up the present obstruction no allocation of tees could be made to the 20 local bodies associated with the council in this matter. All those authorities could, however, rest assured that the council was taking prompt steps to meet tho position.