MOTORISTS CONFER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20958, 22 August 1931, Page 12

MOTORISTS CONFER.

gathering at hawera.

HIGHWAYS BOARD FUNDS. REPRESENTATION QUESTION. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PItESS ASSOCIATION.] HAWERA, Friday. The membership of all the motor associations in the North Island totalled 31,656 at the end of June, 1931, an increase of 2308 over the previous year, according to the report of the president of the North Island Motor Union, Mr. W. A. O'Cnllaghan, of Hawera, presented to the annual conference to-day. Delegates were present from all parts of the North Island, also representatives of the South Island Motor Union. Mr. O'Callaghan said the total membership of associations affiliated to the South Island Union was 16,592, making a total of 48,248 motorists members of automobile associations in the Dominion. "Under the new legislation," said the president, "motorists are finding the whole of the finance for the Main Highways Board, and we contend that %vo are entitled to additional representation. We have asked the Government repeatedly to appoint one additional motorists' representative on the board, but have not had our request acceded to. In the year ended March 31, 1931, motorists found for roading purposes £1,840,590 in taxes on tyres and tubes, registration and licence fees, and motor spirit tax. I think it will be abundantly clear, therefore, that wo have every right to ask for further representation on the board which spends our funds." A report presented by Mr. Ivon Wilson, chairman of the North Island Motor Union Mutual Insurance Company, stated that its income was £61,476, compared with £38,242 for the previous year. The net profit on the year's working was £8352, compared with £3337 for the previous year. A resolution that the union should continue its agitation for an additional motorists' representative on the Main Highways Board, without specifying that he should be a South Island representative, was carried. Other remits adopted included the following:— That the Government be again urged to pass legislation providing that where a person injured by a motor vehicle incurs hospital expenses, those expenses be a first charge on any money payable to the injured person by an insurance company, except money paid under life and accident policies; that the anion take steps to have it made an offence under the motor regulations or local by-laws for a person riding a bicycle to lead a horse or any other animal; that the Government be asked to fix a specified standard for first grade petrol, so that petrol sold from first grade pumps may be checked and the seller prosecuted if the grade falls below the specified standard. Mr. W. G. Walkley, of Hawera, was appointed permanent secretary of the union.

The South Taranaki Association, which was responsible for the conference arrangements, marked the occasion by the publication of Motor News, a 12-page illustrated newspaper, covering the conference reports and containing illustrations.