PART I.

Preliminary And General.

1. —This Act may be cited as the Road Transport Act, 1932.

2. —In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;

the word “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

the expression “mechanically propelled vehicle” includes a vehicle drawn by a mechanically propelled vehicle but does not include a railway engine, carriage, or waggon, or a tramcar or any other vehicle running on permanent rails;

the expression “road transport” means the carriage for reward by road in mechanically propelled vehicles of passengers, passengers' luggage, merchandise, and mails, or any of them;

the expression “passenger road service” means a service of one or more mechanically propelled vehicles travelling wholly or mainly on public roads and carrying passengers (whether passengers' luggage, merchandise, and mails, or any of them are or are not also carried) between specified terminal points or along a specified route for separate charges in respect of each passenger;

the expression “continuous passenger road service” means a passenger road service which is carried on during every week of the year but not necessarily on every day of every week;

the expression “seasonal passenger road service” means a passenger road service which is carried on during every week of a specified part only of the year but not necessarily on every day of every such week;

the expression “occasional passenger road service” means a passenger road service which is carried on only on one or more specified occasions;

the word “merchandise” includes goods, wares, minerals, and animals, but does not include passengers' luggage or mails;

the expression “passengers' luggage” means personal luggage accompanied by a passenger;

the word “mails” includes mail bags and postal packets (other than telegrams) as defined in the Post Office Act, 1908;

the word “charges” includes fares, rates, and tolls;

the expression “the appointed day” means the day appointed by the Minister under this Act to be the appointed day for the purposes of this Act.

3. —The Minister may by order appoint a day, not less than three months nor more than six months after the passing of this Act, to be the appointed day for the purposes of this Act.

4. —The Minister may by order make regulations for all or any of the following purposes, that is to say:—

(a) prescribing any thing which is in this Act referred to as prescribed;

(b) prescribing any thing which the Minister is by this Act authorised to prescribe by regulations made under this Act.

5. —All expenses incurred by the Minister in the execution of this Act shall, to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

6. —The enactments mentioned in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that schedule.