Road Transport Activities
Page 45
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IN PARLIAMENT
PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO FINANCE BILL,
A MONG the amendments of which 1—Inotice has been given for the Committee stage of the Finance Bill is a proposal by Sir Joseph Lamb that a trailer should not be deemed to include any apparatus not exceeding 5 cwt. unladen, drawn by a goods vehicle, supported on not more than two wheels and constructed for spreading sand, gravel, etc., on a road in course of construction, repair or maintenance.
Sir Alan M'Lean, Mr. Wedderhurn and Brigadier-General Clifton Brown have just put down the following amendments to the Seventh Schedule to the Finance Act, 1933:—
Part ill.
Paragraph to be substituted for paragraph 4 (d) of Part II of the Seventh Schedule to the Finance Act, 1933.
(d) Tractors, agricultural tractors, and agricultural engines (other than vehicles in respect of which a duty of five shillings is chargeable under the foregoing provisions of this paragraph) which are registered under the Roads Act, 1920, in the name of a person engaged in agriculture and not used on roads for hauling any object except the prod ore of or articles required for, the purposes of the agricultural land occupied by that person, and tractors registered in the name of a timber merchant used solely for the hauling of native timber from the place where it is felled.
Weight unladen. Rate of duty.
Not exceeding 5 tone ......12 0 III Exceeding 5 tons but not exceed
nag 10 tons ...
Exceeding 10 tons, for the firs.t. 10 toOts For each additional ton or part of a ton in excess of 10 tons ... 2 0-0
_20 0 0 20 0 0 Paragraph to be substituted for paragraph 5 (a) of Part II of the Seventh Schedule to the Finance Act, 1933.
(a) Goods vehicles registered under the Roads Act, 1920, in the name of a person engaged in agriculture, and used on roads solely by that person for the purpose of the conveyance of the produce of, OY of articles required for the purposes of, the agricultural land which he occupies and for no other purpose, and good vehicles registered in the name of a timber merchant used solely for the conveyance of native timber from the place where it is felled.
Weight unladen. tyres. vehicles. £ s. d. £ s. d. Not exceeding 12 cwt. 10 0 0 10 0 0 Exceeding 12 cwt, but not exceeding 1 ton .. 11. 0 0 11 0 0 Exceeding 1 ton but
not exceeding 134 ton 12 0 0 12 0 0 Exceeding 11/a ton but
not exceeding 2 tons ... 13 0 0 13 0 0 Exceeding 2 tons but not exceeding 211 tons 14 0 0 18 13 4 Exceeding 24 tons but not exceeding 5 tons ... 16 0 0 21. 6 8 Exceeding 5 tons, for the
first 3 tons ... ... 16 0 0 21 6 8 For each additional ton or part of a ton in excess
er 3 tons ... 2 0 0 2134
ROAD TRAFFIC BILL.
BEFORE the Whitsun recess, the Standing Committee on the Road Traffic Bill further considered the measure and Col. Moore-Brabazon again attacked the speed-limit proposals in built-up areas in the light of the report on fatal road accident& roads for ever. He himself had load a conversation with the director of the institute, and he certainly had not gathered that the director regarded the tests as a practical possibility at the present time. Experiments had shown them to be of use for grading drivers, but not necessarily for determining whether a man would be a safe driver or not.
The Medical Research Council had been carrying out extensive experiments, and had informed him that as regards distinguishing between good drivers the experiments had already proved themselves, but that so far as the application of a test of this kind was concerned, before a man was allowed to go on the road at all, the experiments so far made had not revealed that the matter had reached a stage of practical utility. He would, however, watch the future of these experiments with interest. The amendment was negatived.
DISTINGUISHING MARKS FOR LEARNER DRIVERS' VEHICLES.
/NOR JESSON moved that "all /V1 vehicles in which persons are learning to drive shall be clearly labelled • Driver under instruction.'" Mr. Stanley having indicated that he proposed before the issue of regulations to discuss this and other matters with the motoring organizations the amendment was withdrawn.
In the course of discussion of other proposals, Mr. Stanley said that in making the regulations for the driving test he intended to provide that a knowledge of the Highway Code should be an essential element.
An amendment was accepted for the exemption from the test of foreigners applying for a driver's licence for the purpose only of a temporary stay in the United Kingdom. The Committee then adjourned to Thursday, May 31.
RUBBER ROAD SURFACES.
ATTENTION was called by Captain Cunningham-Reid to the experiments undertaken by the municipality of Singapore in the use of rubber surfaces for street paving. He asked the Minister of Transport whether he had informed himself of the results of these experiments, and the degree of their applicability to British road conditions.
Mr. Stanley said he was aware of the experimental work on rubber paving carried out in Singapore, and his technical officers kept in mind the possibility of its application to road conditions in this country.