Except as specially provided in this Act, no person shall knowingly use any motor-vehicle on any road or street, or permit any motor-vehicle to be so used, unless—

Every person who uses a motor-vehicle in contravention of this section, or who permits any motor-vehicle to be so used, is liable to a fine of twenty pounds for every day on which the motor-vehicle is so used:

Provided that no person shall be liable under this section for using an unregistered motor-vehicle on a road or street, or for permitting any such vehicle to be so used, if at the time of such use he had not had a reasonable opportunity of registering the motor-vehicle, and if at that time the motor-vehicle was being taken to the place of registration for the purpose of being registered.

The fact that any motor-vehicle is used on any road or street without having an assigned number and distinguishing-marks affixed thereto in the prescribed manner shall be sufficient evidence, until the contrary is proved, that the motor-vehicle has not been registered in accordance with this Act.

Nothing in this section shall apply with respect to any motor-vehicle (other than a motor-car or a motor-cycle) being the property of any Harbour Board.

There shall be a Registrar of Motor-vehicles, whose office shall be in the City of Wellington.

There shall for each provincial district be such number of Deputy Registrars of Motor-vehicles as may from time to time be required.

The Registrar and Deputy Registrars shall be officers of the Public Service, and their duties shall be such as are prescribed by this Act and by regulations thereunder.

The offices of Registrar and of Deputy Registrars shall, so far as practicable, having regard to efficiency and the convenience of the public, be held by members of the Post and Telegraph Department or otherwise concurrently with other offices in the Public Service.

Application for the registration of any motor-vehicle shall be made in the prescribed form by the owner of that motor-vehicle to a Deputy Registrar in the provincial district within which the garage of the motor-vehicle is situate at the time of the application.

In the case of a motor-vehicle which is in use in New Zealand at the commencement of this Act, application for registration shall be made before the first day of February, nineteen hundred and twenty-five; and, pending its registration under this Act, it shall be lawful to use such motor-vehicle on any road or street at any time after the commencement of this Act and before the said first day of February, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, if while being so used it has affixed thereto the identifying marks and numbers appropriate to its registration under the Motor Regulation Act, 1908.

In every other case application for registration shall be made before the motor-vehicle is driven or used on any road or street.

On receipt of an application for registration of any motor-vehicle under this Act the Deputy Registrar, if satisfied that the application is in order, shall assign a number and distinguishing-marks to be affixed to the motor-vehicle in respect of which the application is made, and shall issue to the applicant a certificate of registration of the motor-vehicle.

Save as provided in this Act with respect to the cancellation of registration in special cases, the registration of any motor-vehicle shall continue in force without renewal.

Any person who uses any motor-vehicle on any road or street without having the assigned number and distinguishing-marks affixed thereto in the prescribed manner, or who permits any motor-vehicles to be so used, commits an offence, and is liable to a fine of twenty pounds for every day on which such offence is committed.

Every person who affixes or causes to be affixed to any motor-vehicles any distinguishing-mark which is not authorized by this Act or by regulations thereunder, and which is likely to be mistaken for any authorized distinguishing-mark, or who affixes or causes to be affixed to any motor-vehicle any number, not being the appropriate assigned number under this Act, which is likely to be mistaken for an assigned number, commits an offence, and is liable for each such offence to a fine of ten pounds.

Every Deputy Registrar shall, on the issue of a certificate of registration of a motor-vehicle, notify the Registrar of such issue.

Every Deputy Registrar shall keep at his office a register of the motor-vehicles registered at his office and of the fees received in respect thereof; and the Registrar shall keep a general register of all motor-vehicles.

Every application for the registration of a motor-vehicle under this Act shall be accompanied by the appropriate registration fee.

The fees payable for registration shall be as follows:—

It shall be the duty of every person, being the owner of a motor-vehicle, to procure annually from a Deputy Registrar within the provincial district in which the garage of the motor-vehicle is situate a license to use the motor-vehicle.

No such license shall be granted in respect of any motor-vehicle which has not been duly registered under this Act.

Every such license shall be for a period terminating on the next succeeding thirty-first day of March; save that licenses issued before the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, shall, on payment of the appropriate fee, continue in force until the thirty-first day of March of the following year.

In the case of a motor-vehicle which is in use in New Zealand at the commencement of this Act, application for the issue of an annual license in respect thereof shall be made before the first day of February, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, and pending the issue of such license it shall be lawful to use such motor-vehicle after the commencement of this Act and before the said first day of February, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, so long as the conditions imposed by subsection two of section five hereof are complied with.

Application for any such license shall be made in the prescribed form, and the first such application in respect of any motor-vehicles shall be made within one month after the registration of that motor-vehicle.

Except in respect of motor-vehicles within the exemptions defined in Part II of the Schedule to this Act, there shall be paid by the owner of the motor-vehicle, on making application for the issue of an annual license in respect thereof, the appropriate annual fee prescribed in Part I of that Schedule:

Provided that in the case of a license applied for and granted for a period less than a year the license fees prescribed by this Act shall be reduced by the one-twelfth part thereof for every complete month between the date of the grant of the license and the thirty-first day of March last preceding such date.

On receipt of an application for a license to use any motor-vehicles and of the prescribed fee (if any) in respect thereof, and on production of the certificate of registration of the motor-vehicle, the Deputy Registrar shall issue, in the prescribed form, a license to use such motor-vehicle. While any such license is in force the motor-vehicles to which it relates may be used on any road or street in New Zealand.

Every such license shall refer to the assigned registration number and distinguishing-marks of the motor-vehicle to which it relates.

Save as provided in the next succeeding subsection, no local authority shall be entitled to charge any fee in respect of any motor-vehicles, or of the use of such motor-vehicle on any road or street.

Nothing in this section shall exempt any person—

Every Deputy Registrar shall, on the issue of a license to use a motor-vehicle, notify the Registrar of such issue.

Every Deputy Registrar shall keep at his office a register of all licenses issued by him under this Act, and of the fees received in respect thereof; and the Registrar shall keep a general register of all such licenses.

Where any motor-vehicle is within two or more of the classes specified in Part I of the Schedule hereto, one license only shall be issued and one license fee only shall be paid in any year in respect thereof, and if different fees are fixed for such classes the license shall be issued in respect of that class for which the highest fee is payable.

Every person who uses any motor-vehicle for which an annual license fee has been paid as a motor-vehicle of a class for which a higher license fee is payable and has not been paid, and every person who permits any motor-vehicle to be so used, commits an offence and is liable to a fine of fifty pounds.

If any registered motor-vehicle is destroyed, or becomes permanently useless as a motor-vehicle, or is removed permanently beyond New Zealand, the owner of the motor-vehicle shall forthwith give to the Deputy Registrar at whose office the motor-vehicle is registered notice of its destruction, condition, or removal, as the case may be, and shall deliver to the Deputy Registrar the certificate of registration of the motor-vehicle and the then current annual license (if any) in respect thereof.

The Deputy Registrar shall thereupon cancel the registration of the motor-vehicle and the annual license in respect thereof, and shall notify the Registrar of such cancellation.

When the registration of a motor-vehicle is cancelled the Deputy Registrar may assign to any other motor-vehicle thereafter registered at his office the number and distinguishing - marks previously assigned to the motor-vehicle the registration whereof has been cancelled.

An owner who fails to comply with any of the provisions of this section commits an offence, and is liable to a fine of ten pounds for every such offence.

If the garage of any motor - vehicle is permanently changed from the provincial district in which such motor-vehicle is registered to another provincial district without change of ownership of such motor-vehicle, the owner of the motor-vehicle shall forthwith give notice of such change of garage to the Deputy Registrar at whose office the motor-vehicle is registered, and the Deputy Registrar shall forthwith notify the Registrar of such change.

The registration of the motor-vehicle shall thereupon be removed to the office of a Deputy Registrar within the provincial district in which the new garage is situated, and the number and distinguishing-marks affixed shall be altered in such manner and by such means as may be prescribed, or as the Registrar may determine.

An owner who fails to comply with any of the provisions of this section commits an offence, and is liable to a fine of ten pounds for every such offence.

Within seven days after the sale or other disposal of any registered motor-vehicle the person selling or otherwise disposing of the same shall, in the prescribed form, notify the Deputy Registrar at whose office the motor-vehicle is then registered of the fact of such disposal, the name and address of the new owner, and such other particulars as may be prescribed, and shall transmit to the Deputy Registrar the certificate of registration of the motor-vehicle and the then current annual license in respect thereof.

The Deputy Registrar shall, in the prescribed form, endorse on such certificate and license a memorandum of the change of ownership, and, if necessary, of the change of the garage of the motor-vehicle.

The Deputy Registrar shall, on payment of a fee of five shillings, issue the endorsed certificate and license to the new owner, who shall not be entitled to use the motor-vehicle, or to permit the same to be used, unless and until he has received such certificate and license.

Any person who fails to comply with any of the provisions of this section, or who does any act in contravention thereof, with respect to any motor-vehicle commits an offence, and is liable to a fine of ten pounds for every such offence, and, in the case of a failure to comply with any of the provisions of this section, to a further fine of ten pounds for every day on which the motor-vehicle is used while such failure continues.

Any manufacturer of motor-vehicles or any dealer in motor-vehicles may make application, in the prescribed form, to a Deputy Registrar for the issue of or for authority to use registration plates with a distinguishing-mark, and with or without distinguishing-numbers, on any motor-vehicles held by the applicant only for the purposes of sale.

An annual fee of five shillings in respect of a motor-cycle and of ten shillings in respect of any other motor-vehicle shall be payable by the applicant for each registration plate, or each set of registration plates (where more than one plate is to be used on any motor-vehicle), issued to him or which he may be authorized to use.

Any manufacturer or dealer in motor-vehicles may use any motor-vehicle on any road or street notwithstanding that such motor-vehicles may not have been registered under this Act, and notwithstanding that an annual license to use the same may not have been issued, if—

This Part of this Act shall not apply with respect to any motor-vehicle the property of His Majesty for use by any Department of the Public Service in New Zealand, or any motor-vehicle the property of the Governor-General for use by the Governor-General or the Governor-General’s household:

Provided that—

The Registrar shall keep, in the prescribed form, a special register of all motor-vehicles to which this section applies.

After the first day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, it shall not be lawful for any person to drive a motor-vehicle on any road or street unless he is the holder of a motor-driver’s license issued under this Part of this Act after examination as to fitness, and no person shall after that date employ any other person to drive a motor-vehicle unless such last-mentioned person is the holder of a motor-driver’s license. If any person acts in contravention of this section he commits an offence against this Act. A person over the age of fifteen years shall not be deemed to act in contravention of this section if while driving a motor-vehicle he is accompanied in the driver’s seat by a person who is the holder of a motor-driver’s license and is engaged in teaching the first-named person to drive.

Any local authority may, on payment of a fee of five shillings, issue a motor-driver’s license to any person, not being in any case under the age of fifteen years, who satisfies the local authority that he is qualified to be the holder of a motor-driver’s license. 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.

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, and shall remain in force until the thirty-first day of March next after the date on which it is issued, and shall then expire.

The person driving any motor-vehicle shall produce his motor-driver’s license for inspection whenever required so to do by any constable, or by any person authorized in that behalf by a local authority or by any other person or body having control of any road or street, and if he refuses or fails so to do he commits an offence, and shall be liable in respect of each such offence to a fine of five pounds

The Court before which any person is convicted of an offence against this Act or of any offence in connection with the driving of a motor-vehicle (other than a first or second offence consisting solely of exceeding any limit of speed)—

Any person so convicted shall be guilty of a further offence against this Act if he fails to produce his license to the Court for the purposes of its endorsement under this section within seven days after having been required to produce the same.

A license suspended by the Court shall during the term of suspension be of no effect, and any person whose license is suspended or who is declared by the Court to be disqualified from obtaining a license shall during the period of suspension or disqualification be disqualified from obtaining a motor-driver’s license.

Any person who is by virtue of an order of a Court of summary jurisdiction under this section disqualified from obtaining a motor-driver’s license, or whose license is by virtue of any such order suspended, may appeal against the order to the Supreme Court in the same manner as a person who is ordered to pay a fine exceeding five pounds, exclusive of costs, may appeal pursuant to the provisions in that behalf of the Justices of the Peace Act, 1908; and the convicting Court may, if it thinks fit, pending the appeal, defer the operation of the order. On any such appeal the Supreme Court may make such order in the matter as it deems proper.

If any person who under the provisions of this Act is disqualified from obtaining a motor-driver’s license applies for or obtains such a license while he is so disqualified, or if any person whose license has been endorsed thereafter at any time while the order of endorsement is operative, or at any time after such order has ceased to be operative if he is required by a local authority to supply particulars as to any such endorsement, applies for or obtains a license without giving particulars of the endorsement, he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and any license so obtained shall be of no effect.

All fees payable under this Act to any local authority in respect of motor-drivers’ licenses shall form part of the general funds of that local authority.

Save as provided in the next succeeding subsection, all fees payable under this Act otherwise than in respect of motor-drivers’ licenses, or in respect of charges made for supplying marks or devices to denote the fact of registration or licensing, shall, without further appropriation than this section, be paid into the Main Highways Account to the credit of the Main Highways Revenue Fund. All fines recovered in respect of offences against this Act on informations laid by any officer or servant of a local authority as such shall be paid into the general fund of that local authority, and all other fines shall be paid into the Main Highways Revenue Fund.

In respect of the expenses of administration, the sum of one shilling and sixpence shall be deducted from the annual license fee payable under this Act in respect of motor-vehicles, and every amount so deducted shall, without further appropriation than this section, be paid into the Post Office Account to the credit of that account. All charges made for supplying marks or devices as aforesaid shall also be paid into the Post Office Account.

Where under the provisions of any Act the Governor-General, the Minister of Public Works, the Minister of Railways, the Main Highways Board, or any local authority has power to regulate and control, by by-laws or otherwise, the use of vehicles of any description, such power shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be deemed to include the power to make by-laws for prohibiting or restricting the use of motor-vehicles upon any bridge, road, or other place, if in any case the person or authority making the by-law is satisfied that the use or the unrestricted use of motor-vehicles on any such bridge, road, or place would be attended with risk of danger to the public, or of damage to such bridge, road, or place, or to any property.

A copy of every by-law made under this section by a local authority shall, within seven days after the making thereof, be sent by the local authority to the Minister of Internal Affairs, who may at any time thereafter disallow the same or any part thereof.

On such disallowance being gazetted, the by-law or part thereof shall cease to have effect, but such disallowance shall not affect the validity of anything theretofore done under the by-law.

A motor-vehicle shall be deemed to be a vehicle within the meaning of any Act and of any by-law made thereunder, and if used as a vehicle of any particular class shall be deemed to be a vehicle of that class, and the provisions of any such Act or by-law relating to vehicles shall apply accordingly.

Every person commits a crime, and is liable on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds, who recklessly or negligently drives any motor-vehicle and thereby causes bodily injury to or the death of any person, or who while in a state of intoxication is in charge of a motor-vehicle and by an act or omission in relation thereto causes bodily injury to or the death of any person.

It shall be no defence to an indictment for the crime of manslaughter that the guilty act or omission proved against the person charged upon such indictment is an act or omission constituting a crime under this section.

Every person commits an offence, and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of one hundred pounds or to imprisonment for three months, who recklessly or negligently drives a motor-vehicle on any road, street, or other place to which the public have access, whether as of right or not, or who drives any such vehicle at a speed or in a manner which, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, is or might be dangerous to the public or to any person, or who while in a state of intoxication is in charge of any motor-vehicle on any such road, street, or place.

Any constable may arrest without warrant any person who while in a state of intoxication is in charge of any motor-vehicle in contravention of this section.

It shall be no defence in any proceedings for an offence under section twenty-seven or section twenty-eight hereof that at the time of the alleged offence the motor-vehicle was being driven at a speed not exceeding the maximum speed (if any) limited by any public authority in respect of the road, street, or locality where the alleged offence was committed.

When any person is convicted of an offence under section twenty-seven or section twenty-eight hereof the person so convicted may as part of the sentence be ordered to pay a sum, not exceeding fifty pounds in any case, as compensation to any person who may have suffered bodily injury by reason of the act or default of the person convicted, or to the dependants of any person who may have been killed by reason of such act or default.

Any amount so ordered to be paid shall be recoverable in the same manner in all respects as if it were a fine, and shall, when recovered, be paid without further appropriation in accordance with the order.

The making or enforcement of an order for payment of compensation under this section shall not affect the right of any person to recover any damages to which he may be entitled independently of this section, but in assessing such damages any moneys payable under this section shall be taken into account.

Where an accident arising directly or indirectly from the use of a motor-vehicle occurs to any person, or to any horse or vehicle in charge of any person, the driver of the motor-vehicle shall stop, and, if required, shall give to any constable, or to any person concerned, his name and address, and also the name and address of the owner and the registered number and the distinguishing mark or marks of the motor-vehicle.

In any such accident involving injury to any person it shall be the duty of the driver of the motor-vehicle to render all practicable assistance, and, if the accident has not already been reported to a constable, the driver shall forthwith report the same at the nearest police-station.

Every person who fails to comply with any obligation imposed on him by this section commits an offence, and is liable to a fine of twenty pounds.

The driver of a motor-vehicle shall stop at the request or signal of any constable, or of any person duly appointed to control or inspect traffic, and on demand shall give his name and address, and, if he is not the owner of the motor-vehicle, shall also give the name and address of the owner. Any driver who on demand fails to stop, or refuses to give any such name or address, or gives a false name or address, commits an offence against this Act, and may be arrested by any constable without warrant.

The owner of any motor-vehicle shall, on being informed of any offence alleged to have been committed by the driver of such motor-vehicle while in charge thereof (whether such offence is an offence against this Act or any other Act, or against any regulation or by-law made under any Act), and on being requested so to do by any constable, give all information in his possession which may lead to the identification and apprehension of the driver, and if the owner fails so to do he commits an offence against this Act.

If the number or any distinguishing mark or marks to be affixed to a motor-vehicle in accordance with this Act are in any way obscured, or are rendered or allowed to become not easily distinguishable, whether by night or by day, any person driving the motor-vehicle while any such condition continues shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.

Every person who commits an offence against this Act for which no penalty is provided elsewhere than in this section is liable to a fine of ten pounds.

Save where otherwise expressly provided, every offence against this Act is punishable on summary conviction.

The Governor-General may, by Order in Council, make regulations—

The power to make regulations regulating motor traffic includes the power to make regulations prohibiting such traffic, either absolutely or conditionally, on any specified road, street, or place to which the public have access, whether as of right or not.

Any regulations under this section may apply generally throughout New Zealand or within any specified part or parts thereof, and may apply to all motor-vehicles or to any specified class or classes of motor-vehicles, and may from time to time be applied by the Minister of Internal Affairs, by notice in the Gazette, to any part of New Zealand or to any class of motor-vehicles.

The operation of any regulations published as aforesaid may, if so provided therein, be wholly suspended until they are applied by the Minister by notice pursuant to the last preceding subsection.

In so far as the by-laws of any local authority in force in any locality are inconsistent with or repugnant to any regulations under this Act in force in the same locality the by-laws shall, in so far as they relate to motor-vehicles and motor-vehicular traffic, be deemed to be subject to the regulations notwithstanding that such by-laws may have been made under some other Act.

All regulations made under this section shall be published in the Gazette, and shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within fourteen days after the gazetting thereof if Parliament is then in session; and if not, then within fourteen days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

The Motor Regulation Act, 1908, is hereby repealed.

All Orders in Council, orders, regulations, by-laws, warrants, offices, appointments, registers, books, records, certificates, notices, and generally all acts of authority which originated under the said Act, and are subsisting or in force on the coming into operation of this Act, shall, so far as consistent with the provisions of this Act, enure for the purposes thereof as fully and effectually as if they had originated under this Act, and accordingly shall, where necessary, be deemed to have so originated.

All matters and proceedings commenced under the said Act and pending or in progress on the coming into operation of this Act may be continued, completed, and enforced under the corresponding provisions of this Act (if any); and if there are no such corresponding provisions, then in the same manner as if this Act had not been passed.