MOTORING NOTES.

Shannon News, 26 March 1926, Page 4

MOTORING NOTES.

A BAD START. It is unfortunate that an effort to support local industry by having the number plates for motor vehicles made in New Zealand instead of being imported, has caused for this year considerable inconvenience to the Government and to owners of such vehicles. All motors must be licensed by April Ist, but now it will be necessary to extend the time for re-licensing to the s end of April, and the present green and white imported plates will have to do duty until they can be replaced by the New Zealand made ones. The latter were to have been ready by March Ist, but only a small quantity were to hand' on the contract date. The failure is regrettable for the handle it gives to agents for outside firms. The plates ordered from Canada last year at very scant notice "were to hand in a remarkably short time after the contract was made. The present failure of the local industry system has caused very unwelcome embarrassment to the Minister of Internal Affairs, and is a blow to the advocates for supporting local industry, but having conquered the preliminary difficulties the local works should now easily keep up to time and the present lapstt Avill be overlooked as part of the penalty to be paid for making a start to do new things for ourselves.

DANGEROUS CROSSINGS.

The- proposal to eliminate railway crossings, by a seheme to extend over a considerable period, the most dangerous to have precedence, comes as good news. All sorts of warning signals have be'en devised, warnings have been issued emphasising the need of more care in use of crossings, and numerous schemes have been- adopted to safeguard the public; but so long as human nature remains unchanged, accidents will continue so long as the crossings are in use. Largely owing to the enormous increase in traffic due to the use of motor vehicles, accidents—many of a fatal nature —are occurring far too frequently. Thus the new scheme of cutting out the crossings altogether, though a tremendous and costly undertaking, will be welcomed by all. Until this desired end can be attained —and it will take many years before the work can be completed —it would seem that the only thing that can be done is to continue the efforts to educate the public on the heed for the utmost caution in the use of level crossings. The authorities are embarking on a crusade against careless, motorists and others in various parts of the Dominion. We notice that at Wanganui between thirty and forty prosecutions have been heard at the Police Court within the last few days, in every case the defendants being careless motorists, many of whom had had miraculous escapes through approaching the crossings carelessly. Similar carelessness is observed almost daily elsewhere, despite the fact that fatalities due to the same cause are of frequent occurrence. We that instructions have been issued for prosecutions to "be made in every case that comes before the authorities, and we would once again warn the public of their, liability.

MOTOR-DRIVERS' LICENSES.

The following is a circular letter be<ing issued by the Minister of Internal Affairs to various Borough Councils: — "As you are aware, section 21 (2) of the Motor-vehicles Act, 1924, reads as follows:—Save as may be otherwise provided by this Act or by regulations under this Act. a motor-driver's license shall be operative throughout New Zealand, an<t shall remain in force until the thirty-first day of March next after the date on which it is issued, and shall then expire. In addition to the above, subsection 1 of section 21 of the Act in question provides, inter alia, that the holder of a motor-driver's license shall not be qualified to obtain another.such license while the license so held by him is in force. It will thus be seen that under the existing law it is necessary for new licenses to be issued 'after the 31st March before a person can legally drive a motor-vehicle, and as Good Friday this year falls on the 2nd April it would seem impracticable that all licenses required by. motor-drivers can be issued on Ist April. I decided. to issue regulations authorising the issue of licenses during the month of March to persons who already hold license?, but have provided that such licenses shall not take effect till the Ist April following. < I have also thought it desirable to provide that in the case of a license issued in the month of March to persons who had not previously held a license, such' license should remain in force until the 31st day of' the next ensuing year. Provision is also made enabling" the license to be endorsed by the local authority in eases where the vehicle is plied for hire. . In conclusion I would suggest the desirability of your Council publishing a short notice in the newspaper circulating in the district intimating that it is prepared to issue forthwith inotordrivers-' licenses, when approved, prior to the 31st March, and at the same time pointing out that existing licenses expire on the 31st March, and that persons desiring to drive motor-vehieles on or after Ist April must obtain a new license before driving a motor-vehicle." Yours, etc., RICHD. P. BOLLARD, Minister of Internal Affairs."