NEW NUMBER PLATES.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 231, 5 April 1928, Page 7

NEW NUMBER PLATES.

A WASTEFUL SYSTEM. Concerted Action Necessary. The approach of the period when all motor vehicles must be reregistered seems an appropriate time to draw public attention once again to the prodigious waste of money which attends the system of compelling motorists to purchase new plates each year. There are, according to the latest returns, 166,816 motor vehicles in New Zealand. A set of new plates for each means that motorists will be called upon to find £16,000 for no useful purpose.

It is time the motoring organisations from one end of the country to the other took up this question with the Government, as the system is wasteful and unnecessary. The Wanganui association has already taken action.

Every year the numbers are changed, tenders have to be let, plates have to be delivered by the case to all parts of the country, and much money must be spent in stationery. That is leaving out the inconvenience to the public of waiting in queues for plates and so on. Thousands of pounds must be spent in administrative expenses. When a motorist has a fixed number he remembers it, but at the present time if cars are stolen records have to be searched to find the numbers of cars. Of course that is the motorists’ neglect, but the system helps them to it. What is the solution ? The British system, permanent number plates

and a card, in a disc on the windscreen. Each year the colour of the card is changed, proof to police and traffic inspectors that the motorist has complied with the law. The cards could be printed by the Government itself at the minimum of expense. On what grounds does the Government defend the present costly system? New Zealand motorists do not receive the consideration due to them from the authorities. At every chance, through the petrol tax, registration, number plates, tyres, and licenses to use and drive, the Government squeezes the users of road transport in this country.