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MOTORS AND MOTOR-DRIVING

circumstances to go at more than six miles an hour. Owners of tricycles with trailers need not be afraid of this regulation, for the combination is held to constitute one five-wheeled vehicle, so that they come under the ordinary provisions.

Motor carriages have to carry by the regulations of this Act, in addition to a white light on the right side showing in the direction the carriage is going, a red light showing in the reverse direction.

There are several questions which naturally arise as to the law affecting owners and users of motor carriages on which there is some doubt. I have endeavoured in the following paragraphs to give an answer to some of the questions that are most frequently asked, and I hope these answers will be of some utility to fellow-automobilists.

The first question is one which applies to almost all owners, and is, whether it is necessary to pay a tax on motor mechanics as male servants or whether they can be classed as engineers and escape duty.

On the paper which is sent out by the Inland Revenue authorities every year will be found an extract from the Act 32 & 33 Vict. cap. 14, s. 19, which regulates the imposition of the duty payable on male servants. Apart from the end of the classification, which says that the master is liable to pay duty on all domestic servants, there is included specifically 'coachmen.' While we are not in the habit of calling our mechanics coachmen, yet there can be no doubt that a coachman is a man who drives a carriage, and although he may only be employed part of the day to drive the carriage, yet so is any other coachman who drives horses. It seems, therefore, quite clear that the duty must be paid. There is an idea prevalent amongst many people that it makes a difference whether the man wears livery or not; but this is a delusion; the only difference it could make would be to show more clearly that the man is a domestic servant.

Another question relating to taxes is what tax must be paid on various motor carriages?