MOTOR LICENSE FEE

Taranaki Daily News, 4 May 1916, Page 8

MOTOR LICENSE FEE

PROTEST FROM 'BUS OWNERS. The following letter was read at the last meeting of the Borough Council: — ''We desire to bring under your notice the unjustness and harshness of the new license fees for motor 'busses and lorries, and to respectfully ask that you reconsider them. Formerly £l, they havprj been increased to £(! awl £:>, r<V spectively. We submit that the 'buses' are of considerable advantage to the town, bringing in as they do a large number of people from the country districts to do their shopping. The services are still in the pioneering stage, and require all the assistance that can be given them if they are to be maintained. They are already heavily penalised by the high prices for benzine and tyres, aiul also J>v the County Councils, wlio levy tolls anil other charges. Tlk* machines do no harm to tar-sealed roads, being lighter, in fact, upon them than tyred vehicles. None of them compete with the tramways, or are likely to. All the repair >vork, etc., in connection with the machines is done in the town, thus giving employment to a good many hands. One motor 'bus shop alone confined to the motors finds employment for eight hands, and the town is made the headquarters of many drivers. It is therefore of manifest benefit to the town to support in every way these services, and it would really 'pay the Council to subsidise them, instead of seeking to hamper or penalise them. We respectfully ask that you carefully reconsider the fees with a view to putting them at the former rate, which, in our opinion, was quite reasonable.

The Council decided to hear a deputation o{ the owners at Monday night's meeting.