NEWFOUNDLAND

The earliest law providing for motor vehicle registration appears to have been in the city of St. Johns, the capital, starting in 1906.  City registration continued until mid-1925 when colony-wide registration and plates began, superceding city plates.

St. Johns (31,501)

The first automobile arrived in May 1903;  by May 1906, there were seven automobiles in the city.  On May 10, 1906, the Motor Cars Act was passed by the Legislative Council of the Colony of Newfoundland, requiring that every motor vehicle within the electoral districts of St. Johns be registered with the city's Municipal Council and assigned a number.  The law stated that the Municipal Council could pass its own regulations concerning the identification of motor vehicles.

On June 28, 1907, the Municipal Council indeed did pass the "St. Johns Motor Vehicle Act" which addressed the registration of automobiles and motorcycles within the city limits.  This law specified the display of an owner-provided white-on-black rear plate with 4-inch-square numbers (or 3-inch-square for motorcycles).  In 1907, 9 automobiles and 8 motorcycles were registered, while in 1908, 11 automobiles were registered in addition to the 8 motorcycles.  This system continued through 1919, by which time registrations totaled 451 automobiles and 37 motorcycles.

Pairs of annual dated embossed steel city-issued plates were issued from 1920 through 1925.  The unique feature of these plates (or perhaps more accurately, the lack thereof) is that they have no place identification whatsoever.  They are marked only by a vertical year date at the right.  Because of this confusion, many people have mistakenly assumed that these are Newfoundland plates rather than St. Johns plates.  Known color schemes and plate numbers are listed in the following table:

      YEAR   COLORS                  NUMBER SERIES

      1920   Black on Light Orange   #1001 - 1746

      1921   White on Dark Blue      #2001 - 2142

      1922   Blue on Beige           #3001 - 3438

      1923  (Light on Dark)          #4001 - 4450

      1924   White on Red            #5001 - 5373

      1925   White on Black          #6001 - 6980

The 1924 plates were first issued on April 17, 1924, and #5724 was issued on November 29, 1924.  726 automobiles were registered by the end of the 1924 year.  The 1925 issue, and all city registration, ceased on June 1, 1925, when Newfoundland took over motor vehicle registration.