MOTOR BY-LAW.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1383, 8 March 1912, Page 6

MOTOR BY-LAW.

TIRES OUT CITY COUNCIL. AND LEFT IN THE AIR. About an hour and a half was spent by the City Council last evening in discussing the proposed inotor by-law, the main features of which have been already described in The Dominion. The discussion \W£ of a desultory character, and no very important amendments were made in the by-law. At the outset Councillor M'Kenzie suggested that all councillors who were owners of motor-cars should be debarred, as interested parties, from taking part. The suggestion was not taken seriously. Councillors drifted out, one by one, and at IO.tO p.m. only half-a-dozen were left. Two or three others drifted in from the ante-rooms and'saved the meeting from lapsing fcr want of a quorum. Councillor Trevor (chairman of the By-Laws Committee) protested that it was a, difficult thing to get a by-law passed. From beginning to end the thing had had to bo forced through. He was quite prepared to sit there and carry on, but councillors should say what they had to say in a few words and be done with it. The Acting-Mayor now suggested that the by-law as a whole should be put to the vote. Councillor Fletcher, however, proposed that fifteen miles an hour should be substituted for twenty miles an hour as the maximum speed in city streets. Councillor Trevor: How do you like to go at fifteen miles down Jervois Quay with a clear road? Councillor Fletcher explained that he had the busier streets in view. Councillor Fitzgerald pointed out that the law <it present required that cars should travel at "a reasonable speed" in city streets. He contended that a by-law limiting speedy would be inoperative. Councillor Fletcher's amendment was defeated on the voices. The number of councillors present again began to dwindle, end it soon became clear Hint the by-law could not be passed that evening. Councillor Cameron, speaking with some feeling, declared that lie had never in his life heard anything so absurd as had been advanced by the non-expert members of the council. He was quite prepared to deal with the experts, bnt protested against the interference of the non-experts. Keferi'ing to some recent criticism of the council by a local paper, Councillor Cameron remarked that, at any rate, lie could drive Mr. 's car through the Manawatu Gorge without going down (ho bank. Councillor Fitzgerald, at 10.50 p.m., was about to propose an alteration to a clause relating (o the licensing of drivers, when it was pointed out to the Acting-Mayor tluit.no quorum ' was present. Councillor Smith then left the chair, and the meeting broke np, Councillor Trevor again indignantly protesting that time had been uselessly frittered away.