British
Columbia Vehicle Registration Information
Nos. 1 - 1,726 (1904 - 1912)
A
special thanks to the Royal BC Musuem & BC Archives for allowing the use of these photos,
which are of a Register which comprises part of the records of the Motor Vehicle Branch (File No. GR-0665, Volume No. 4).
Given the limited number of vehicles in the province when the Act to Regulate the Speed and Operation of Motor Vehicles on Highways was adopted in 1904, the Provincial Police had opted to use a rather small book to register vehicles.
However, as the number of automobiles continued to expand exponentially after 1904, the shortcomings of using such a book were slowly exposed (see Volume 1).
This prompted the Provincial Police to introduce a new, more spacious Register that totals 400 pages and initially allowed for additional details to be recorded as well as transfer information under the original entry.
For ease of access, the Police re-entered all numbers in this new Register starting with the first one issued in February 1904 and generally had 7 entries per page.
Even this new Register, however, could not keep pace with the number of vehicles being registered and by October of 1911, the Police were forced to switch 10 entries per page, then 15 and finally 20 (at No. 1,267) in order to extend the life of the book.
The final entry, No. 1,726, was made on May 16, 1911, and it is not clear how subsequent registrations were recorded as transcribed records up to No. 4,858 exist, but not the original hand-written entries.