N.Z.'S WAR WORKERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 92, 17 August 1942, Page 6

N.Z.'S WAR WORKERS

TO SHARE SPECIAL SHIPMENT OF 300,000 BRITISH BICYCLES New Zealand is lo receive her ration share of the IWO.UOO bicycles which tlie Board of Trade in London lias now agreed may be made in Great Britain this year to meet the definite war requirements of the Dominion and other overseas territories. "Petrol restrictions apply in NewZeal and as much as they do here in Britain," Mr H. R. Watling, Director of the cycle manufacturers 7 organisation, said to an interviewer. "The need for transport by bicycle for munition workers and for the essential services in New Zealand is consequently as great as it is with us. "The total figure of '500,000 includes components: and during the war only essential repair parts for users of British bicycles will be sent to countries in the Western Hemisphere, where the number of British bicycles, has been growing steadily for years. We arc of course sending out such spare parts with the knowledge and approval of the Lease-Lend administration. "Natural!}*, we •■cannot to-day send to New Zealand anything like the number of bicycles shipped before the Avar but arrangements have been made to send as many as possible there and to South Africa and India. The other parts of the British Commonwealth have not been forgotten and we are also meeting the requirements oi" territories served by the Middle East Supply Council which include Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Transjordania. "No tribute to the popularity of the British biycle could be finer than the present demand from the Dominions Colonics and neutral countries which has led to the agreement bj- our Board of Trade to the programme now .sanctioned."