HOARDINGS ON HIGHWAYS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21244, 27 January 1931, Page 4

HOARDINGS ON HIGHWAYS.

ACTION IN VICTORIA. The Country Roads feoard in Victoria has decided to pxmhibit the erection of advertising hoardings in or near State highways. Its regulation on the subject was made some time ago, but pending tests of its validity, which were undertaken both in the Supreme Court and in the High Court, its enforcement was delayed. The by-law having been declared legal by the courts, the board informed the proprietors of hoardings that they must be removed, but as many claimed that advertisements had been erected under a time contract, the board decided to allow the owners until the end of last year to remove the signs. Despite the concession granted by the board, motorists on New Year’s Day (the Argus says) saw little evidence of a general effort to comply with the board’s by-law. Tardiness on the part of advertisers to remove the hoardings is well illustrated on the Prince’s Highway between Oakleigh and Drouin. Those who have complied with the by-law on this route appear t,p be mainly business people in the towns albng the road, such as hotelkeepers and garage proprietors, who formerly erected small signs on or near the highway a few miles from their places of business. Many of the advertisements along fence rails have also been painted out recently, but the majority of the advertising hoardings on private lands adjoining the road remain. It has been announced on behalf of the board that as the period of grace has expired the by-law will be rigorously enforced. The position of all advertising signs on the State highways is known to the board’s inspectors. Persons who persisted in refusal to remove the signs will be prosecuted. The by-law applies to signs on farm buildings near the highways. as well as to those on special hoardings. The only signs which are exempt from the by-law are those within the boundaries of towns along the roads.