THE WHEEL TAX.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 192, 21 August 1901, Page 3

THE WHEEL TAX.

BOROUGH COUNCILLORS BECOM ING CONCERNED.

At the meeting of the Borough Council last night, Cr Miller asked if any eillor knew how the County’s Wheel Tax Hill would affect the borough. Cr Jones: iceording to the first suggestion, if you drive over the bridge into the county you will have to pay the tax. The Mayor : Anyone having a conveyance in town will have to take out a license if they want to drive into the

country. Cr Miller : Have wo power to tax thentraps ? Cr Kennedy : There ought to bo reciprocity. (Laughter.) The Town Clerk : We could make the coaches pay, hut do not enforce It. Cr Whinray : The wheel tax is worse than the old toll-gate. Jr Bright: No doubt of that. Cr Harding said that tho draft of the Bill was very strong. Cr Whinray: It is going back to the primitive state instead of progressing. in reply to Cr Miller, Cr Jones said that the Bill had not yet reached the second reading. Cr Harding: A man living on Kaiti or Whataupoko would have to pay a tax on his vehicle if he wished to drive out to Matawhero. Cr Jones : And if we put on a tax, ho will have to pay when he comes back. — (Laughter.) In reply to Cr Miller, Cr Jones stated that the Borough would also require an Act to put on such a tax for private vehicles. Cr Miller said he had been told that if the Premier’s Bill passed, the county would drop theirs, as tho former Bill would give sufficient power. In that case tho borough should have power under tho Act passed last session. The Town Clerk : I do not think wo have any power to tax private vehicles, only those plying for hire. The County Council proposes to tax private vehicles. Cr Whinray : Yes, every wheel that goes round. Cr Harding : Bicycles too ? Cr Jones : It hardly goes as far as that. A councillor satirically suggested that the county should tax perambulators, gocarts, and trucks, which elicited some humorous remarks as to tho decreasing birth rate. Cr Miller: 1 do not know anything about the Bill. Will some one else make a move in the matter ? Cr Jones : I move that this Council objects to tho Bill. Crs Bright and Kennedy said that they did not care to oppose the Bill without knowing something more about it. Cr Whinray : It is an obsolete form of raising money to make roads. It was agreed, on the motion of Cr Miller, seconded by Cr Kennedy, that the Mayor and Crs Bright and Jones be a committee to examine tho Bill, and if they found that it dealt harshly with the borough to forward an objection to tho member for the district.