THE ARMY MOTORS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 150, 20 March 1919, Page 6

THE ARMY MOTORS

TO BE RETURNED TO MANUFACTURERS

NO FLOODING OF THE MARKET

Brigadier-General G. S- Richardson, in a letter to the Minister of Defence, mentions 'he Jyis l)ocn informed that the makers of motor-lorries and cars used by the Army have .rranged to have the vehicles returned to. them on demobilisation. "If this is true," he says, "the New Zealand Government will require to purchase its requirements from the trade and not from the War Office.' This information was supplied by tho general in reply to a suggestion made to the New Zealand Government by members qf Parliament last session and forwarded b.v the Government to the Now Zealand Headquarters in England, that steps should be taken to secure tor local bodies in this country seme of the motorlorrios that have been used by the armies in tho field. It was considered that these lorries would bo particularly suitable for uso in tho Dominion, and that probably they would be sold cheap when the armies' were demobilised. !

The arrangement mentioned by General Richardson does rot seem to have been made tho subject of an official announcement in the United Kingdom, but information that has reached trade circles in this country confirms the roport. T.he manufacturers, it appears, nave been given an undertaking that tho Imperial Government will r.ot throw upon tlfc open market the 'thousands of motor vehicles that have been acquired for Army purposes during tho last four years. If were done, tho market would bo dislocated, prices would fall, and manufacturers would find themselves deprived of tiheir normal orders for a long time to come. In order to guard against this, the surplus vehicles will •be returned to the manufacturers, who will bo left to make their own arrangements for their disposal. It is quite possible that New Zealand will still lie able to make an advantageous deal with some of these manufacturers. A similar arrangement has been discussed in tho United- States. _ "To sell what trucks come back at auction in tho open market," says "The Commercial Vehicle," "would throw tho commercial motor-truck market into a state of chaos which would take several years to overcome." One of the suggestions made in the United States is that the Government should use many of the returned motor-lorries in a big scheme of road construction under direct Government supervision.