MOTOR LICENSING.

Wairarapa Age, 26 May 1936, Page 4

MOTOR LICENSING.

“LATE NIGHT” THIS WEEK. POST OFFICE TASKS. If it were only a question of taking the registration fees and issuing the new motor licence plates by the end of May, the Post Office would not be troubled over the possibility of lastminute rushes and heavy work during the present week, when it will complete the collection of approximately £430,000 from the motor owners of the Dominion. This month is a particularly busy one in the Department because a number of other large financial tasks have to be undertaken. There is the collection of the quarterly unemployment levy, and the distribution of declaration of income forms, and the collection of the first instalment of unemployment tax in* respect to income other than salary or wages for the year ended March 31. This emergency income tax and the quarterly unemployment levy will probably total £470,000. The end-of-the-month rush will be further accentuated by the task of distributing through the Post Office £76,000 in superannuation payments, and £300,000 constituting the monthly instalments of pensions. Meanwhile fhe normal business must be carried on with despatch. Savingsbank deposits and withdrawals aggregating 3| to 4A millions per month are heaviest at the beginning and end of the period; postal notes issued and. paid number 500,000 in a month; money order business reaches £280,000; about £220,000 will be collected during the month for the Mortgage Corporation, £36,000 for the Public Trust Office; £70,000 for other Government departments as well as over £lOO,OOO in telephone exchange fees and between £lOO,OOO and £120,000 from the sale of postage stamps, the last activity being more extensive at the moment owing to the Anzac Commemorative Stamp campaign.

Motor licence registrations will be larger than in previous years, therefore the Registrar of Motor-Vehicles, to meet the convenience of the public during this last week of relicensing opportunity, has decided to keep open the relicensing depots at the larger centres each night until 8 o'clock. In previous years only the final day has been extended into a “late night.” It is a "heavy week for the counter clerks, but the Department's concern over early application for motor registration is due more to a desire that irritating delays shall not be experienced through members of the public leaving the inevitable task with too great unanimity until the last day.