MOTOR CRS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1505, 30 July 1912, Page 6

MOTOR CRS.

TAX OR REGISTRATION? UTILITY AND PRINCIPLES. DISCUSSED BY MUNICIPAL DELEGATES. Whether the owners of motor-cars should be taxed under cover of being compelled to pay registration fees was tho question really involved in an important remit discussed l,y the Municipal Association Conference yesterday. Tho conference, by a small majority, decided in favour of taxation. The remit, which, ran as follows, was moved by the Napier delegate, Mr. A. Murray:— "That the Motor Regulation Act, 1908, be amended by repealing Sections 14 and 15 thereof, and by substituting the following:— U. Every motor shall be registered with tho registering authority of the district in which tho owner of such motor eithor lives or lias his place of business, ami such ; registration shall have effect throughout New Zealand. 15.—(1) Every regis- • tration shall bo in the form prescribed by regulations, and a fee of ,£5 may ' be charged by the registering authority upon the registration of any motor having not less than four wheels and £1 in the ease of a motor having less than four wheels. (2) Every such registration when duly made shall be deemed to be in force from the day on which the ?ame is made until tho 31st day of March then licxt ensuing, ; and no longer, and such registration shall be again made in like manner from year to year." I It was agreed to take tho remit in sec- . tions, and Mr. Murray moved the first ! section. In support of the remit, he"art gued that motor-cars caused more damage . to roads tha.i any other kind of traffic. A 'proposal that registration should bo [ valid for the district only in which it was made, and not for all New Zealand . was negatived. The Hon. T. W. Hislop (Wanganui) I opposed the motion. Why, he asked, should motor-cars bo singled out for this ; special taxation? Win 1 should not all vehicles of all sorts be taxed if this method of taxation were to be approved.- ' It was merely an attempt to pass on taxa- ' tion to someone else, and the effect of it ' would be to prevent moderately well-to-do ' people from enjoying the privilege of us- ; ing motor-cari. The remit was carried. '• Mr. A. Murray (Napier) then moved: 1' "That every registration shall l:o in the form prescribed by regulations,. and a fee of £h may be charged by the t registering authority upon the regis- [ tration of any motor haying not less j than four wheels and .£1 in the case of a motor having less than four wheels. i An amendment was proposed by Mr. W. ' B. Scandrett (lnvercargill) to make the - maximum annual registration fee £2 in- [ stead of ,£5. i Practically all the speakers \yho took . part in the subsequent discussion were , opposed to both motion and amendment, i Some were willing that motors should pay > a registration fe3 annually, but they eug- : gested that it should be sufficient only to j defray tho cost of registration, and should 3 not be in the nature of a tax. r Tho amendment'was carried by 27 votes '. to 24 the support for it coining from the .■ representatives of smaller boroughs. f Mr. R. Fletcher (Wellington) then mov--3 ed a further amendment to reduce thu j amount from <£2 to £\, but this anieudi nwrit was lost. Another amendment to reduce the I amount payable for motors of less than . -Sour wheels from JBl-te-lOs-.- was carried 3 by 27 votes to 19. Mr. A. Murray moved: 5 "Every such registration when duly 1 made shall be deemed to be in force i . from the day on which the same is I mode until tho 31st day of March, then ' next ensuing, aud no longer, and such " " registration shall be again mode in i like manner from year to year." ' Mr. J. H. Plusher moved an omendnient t to delete- the last portion relating to the renewal of the. license from year to year. t He maintain-id that tho question nt ie-snu was as to whether the registration should .{ be merely for the purposes of identification or whether it should bo in pfiect a j method of taxation. If it wero to be a j tax, why t-hould r.ot a. tax bo imposed upon carts, buggies, bicycles, perambula- [ tors, even on foot passengers? If tho , right to tax wcr> admitted in- regard to ' niotor-cars, it could bo arg.ied with equal force as applied to all other traffic. " Tho amendment wns lost by 31 votes , to 20, and the motion carried by 20 to 21. The whole remit as amended was carTied by 2C votes to 20.