MOTOR TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 223, 19 September 1940, Page 11

MOTOR TRADE.

OLD CARS ON ROAD.

RECOMMENDATIONS MADE.

WELLINGTON, thW day.

Points made in the report prepared by a special committee of the New Zealand Motor Trade Federation on the motor industry in the Dominion, which was circulated among members of the Cabinet, were brought before the annual meetir- of the federation to-day by the president, Mr. C R. Edmond. The report staged that 34.5 per cent of all cars and 45.6 per cent of all the commercial vehicles on the road are more then ten years old, and therefore have reached, or wili shortly reach, the limit of their economic usefulness.

Referring to the portion of the motor industry devoted to the building of motor vehicles and their preparation for delivery, the report say* that this represents the largest part of what is termed by the "Abstract of Statistics" "genuine manufacturing interests," and, as such, with their modern plant, are an important national asset. "As 92.5 per cent of our imports in this category for 1939 came from British Empire countries (including 54.4 per cent from the United Kingdom), a decision to drastically curtail imports of these commodities specifically affects Empire trade, with its greatest impact falling on the United Kingdom," the report states.

Recommendations put forward in the report were:—That in allotting fifth period licenses, the motor industry should be classified as an essential industry; permitted to import motor vehicles to the extent permitted by the availability of overseas funds and in proportion to its status; and permitted to import its complete requirements of spare parts and other service materials, as are essential to keep the present motor vehicles in fit condition to operate satisfactorily and safely on the highways.

Comparative tables in the report of new vehicles registered in the year ended March 31, 1939, with those for 1940 in parentheses, were given in the report as follow:—Cars, 28,937 (18,107); commercial vehicles, 10,862 (9849); motor cycles, 2233 (1814). The percentasre decreases were 37.4, 9.3 and 18.8. The report adds: "Since March last the downward trend has steepened until it is almost perpendicular."