(d) the design and construction of omnibuses so as to secure the safety, comfort, and convenience of passengers and the public, and to minimise. damage to roads; (e) for the maintenance and repair of omnibuses; (f) for the provision and regulation of efficient brakes and steering gear on motor omnibuses; (g) for the supply to the Minister by owners of omnibuses of such statistics as are prescribed; (h) the limit of speed that shall not be exceeded whether generally or in any specified locality or any specified street or road or part thereof by omnibuses; and (i) generally, all such matters and things as are authorised or permitted to be prescribed for carrying this Act into effect. (6.) The Governor, by regulations made under this section, (a) may prescribe that the holder of a passenger vehicle license for an omnibus in force at the commencement of the first regulations made under this section shall surrender such license, and may be granted in lieu thereof a passenger vehicle license to be issued in accordance with such regulations on payment of a proportional part of the additional fee prescribed by Part II. of the Third Schedule to this Act; and (b) may impose a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, or imprisonment not exceeding one month with or without hard labour, for the breach of any regulation. (7.) When routes within the Metropolitan Area or other defined part of the State have been prescribed under this section as the routes to be observed by omnibuses, and the use of vehicles as omnibuses has been prohibited unless a prescribed route is specified in or indorsed on the license for the vehicle, any owner of, or person in charge of, a vehicle who uses the vehicle or suffers or permits the vehicle to be used within the Metropolitan Area or other defined part of the State as an omnibus without a prescribed route being specified in or indorsed on the license, or on any route other than that Substitution of vehicle for licensed passenger vehicle while under repair. Amendment of section 43, Amendment of section 44. Amendment of section 45. Amendment of section 48. specified in or indorsed on the license, or in a consent granted by the local authority under a regulation prescribed pursuant to subsection (3) of this section, or on any road within the Metropolitan Area or such defined part of the State as aforesaid which is not a prescribed route, shall be guilty of an offence against this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, or to imprisonment with or without hard labour for not exceeding one month. (8.) This section shall apply to all vehicles used as omnibuses in the metropolitan area as prescribed by regulation or other defined part of the State as aforesaid, notwithstanding that the license for the vehicle may have been obtained in any other part of the State. 22. Any license granted in respect of an omnibus or passenger vehicle shall, during such time or times as such omnibus or vehicle is under repair, authorise the holder of such license, with the previous consent in writing of the Commissioner of Police or any officer acting for him, to substitute another omnibus or vehicle for the bus or vehicle under repair, and to ply for hire therewith without being required to pay a further license fee, during only such period or periods as the first-mentioned omnibus or vehicle is under repair and not plying for hire or otherwise being used for profit. 23. Section forty-three of the principal Act is amended by inserting after the word "shall" in the fourth line the words "subject to this Act, and the regulations made by the Governor." 24. Section forty-four of the principal Act is amended by substituting the words "local authority" for the word "Minister" in lines two and four, and by omitting the proviso. 25. Section forty-five of the principal Act is amended by omitting the word "motor" in lines three and four respectively. 26. Section forty-eight of the principal Act is amended by substituting the word "vehicle" for the words "motor wagon or a locomotive or traction engine" throughout the section. section 49. 27. Section forty-nine of the principal Act is amended Amendment of by omitting the words "by a certificate of an inspector" in the first line thereof, and all the words after the word "fund" in subsection (2). 28. A section is inserted in the principal Act, as fol- Insurance by lows: owners of motor omnibuses. s. 10. 49a. (1.) The owner of any motor vehicle used for the See Vic. No. 3378, carriage of passengers for hire or reward shall insure himself, and at all times keep himself insured during the currency of the license therefor, with an insurance office doing business within the State which has complied with the provisions of the Insurance Companies Act, 1918, against liability for damages in respect of such vehicle in case of injury to persons. (2.) The amount of insurance against such liability in respect of every such vehicle shall be one hundred pounds for each passenger the vehicle is licensed to carry, and not less than one thousand pounds, during the currency of the license therefor: Provided that in the case of an owner of more than one vehicle, if such owner during the currency of his licenses insures himself and keeps himself insured for not less than five thousand pounds in the aggregate, such insurance shall be deemed a compliance with the requirements of this section. (3.) Before or on the granting or the renewal of any license for a motor vehicle used for the carriage of passengers for hire or reward, and forthwith after any further insurance is effected during the currency of the license, the owner of the vehicle shall deposit with the Minister a policy of insurance together with a receipt for all premiums payable thereon during the currency of the license. (4.) If any owner of a motor vehicle used for the carriage of passengers for hire or reward neglects to effect an insurance in accordance with this section, or fails to deposit with the Minister the policy of insurance and the receipt for the premiums, the Minister may, by notice served on such owner and published in the Gazette, suspend any license under this Act held by such owner until the requirements of this section are complied with by him; and during such period of suspension the license Amendment of section 50. Amendment of section 52.. Amendment of subsection (2) of section 53, Amendment of section 58. Amendment of section 61. Amendment of shall be of no effect, and the person whose license is suspended shall, during the period of suspension, be disqualified from obtaining a license. 29. Section fifty of the principal Act is amended by substituting the word "vehicle" for the words "motor vehicle or locomotive or traction engine." 30. Section fifty-two of the principal Act is amended by deleting the word "motor." 31. Subsection (2) of section fifty-three of the principal Act is amended by inserting after the word "authority" the words "for a period of one month," and by adding to the subsection the following words:-"but the exercise of such power shall not extend beyond such period, except with the approval in writing of the Minister." 32. Section fifty-eight of the principal Act is amended by inserting after the word "person" in line two the words "is or was the owner of a vehicle or," and by inserting after the word "vehicle" in line four the words "or that the vehicle was used on a road." 33. Section sixty-one of the principal Act is amended by inserting after the word "Minister," in lines one and four, the words "or any person acting with the authority of the Minister, or by the Commissioner of Police." 34. The Second Schedule to the principal Act is amended, as follows: (a) By adding the following words to the description of "locomotive or traction engine," namely, "and not being a motor wagon as defined, and any other road tractor not within the meaning of the term. 'motor wagon.'" (b) By adding the following words to the description of "motor wagon," namely, "and includes a wagon driven by steam if fitted with wheels similar to those of a motor vehicle, or a 'sentinel' or similar vehicle." (e) By adding to the definition of "Cart" the following words: "The term includes jinker and whim." (d) By inserting : "Motor Omnibus."-A motor vehicle used as an "Omnibus."-A vehicle used as a passenger 35. A proviso is inserted in Part I. of the Third Schedule to the principal Act under the heading "Passenger Vehicles and Carriers' Licenses" after the words "fee for a carrier's license per wheel £0 10 0," as follows: Provided that if the owner of several vehicles for which carriers' licenses have been obtained, proves to the satisfaction of the licensing authority that the number of drivers employed (including himself if a driver) was at no time during the currency of such licenses equal to the number of such licensed vehicles, the licensing authority. shall allow a rebate of the fees paid for any licenses in excess of the drivers employed. 36. A paragraph is added to Part II. of the Third Schedule to the principal Act, as amended by the Traffic Act Amendment Act, 1924, as follows: This part shall apply notwithstanding that the passenger vehicle license for the motor omnibus is a "regular service license"; but in the case of a motor omnibus for which a passenger vehicle license is granted as a "special service" license, such fee for the license and for every permit issued thereunder shall be payable as prescribed by regulations made under this Act. Amendment of Part I. of Third Amendment of schedule." Part II. of Third 37. A paragraph is added to Part III. of the Third Amendment of Schedule to the principal Act, as amended by the Traffic Act Part III of Third Amendment Act, 1924, as follows: The horse-power of any mechanically propelled vehicle deriving its power wholly from a steam engine shall be taken to be proportional to the effective heating surface of the boiler supplying steam to such engine, at the rate of one horse-power for every three square feet in such effective heating surface, and the effective heating surface shall be taken to be (a) In the case of a boiler having horizontal or approximately horizontal tubes, the whole of Schedule. |