WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 30 October 1929, Page 3

WELLINGTON NEWS

BRITISH MOTOR CARS. ((Special Correspondent) WELLINGTON, October 28. At last it appears that the British authorities have’come to a full recognition of the importance of the motor vehieie in world , economics and a special effort is now: to be made to increase the'sales of British .motor cars in overseas markets, and once the Britisher ’ tackles a problem he never lets go until he wins out. The' British motor manufacturers will succeed and we in .New Zealand can help in the matter. It is open to iis to increase the duty on foreign motor cars imported into the Dominion, and at the same time reduce the duty on British motor

cars.' s We can also help by forming a strong joint-stock company to finance the purchase on the instalment plan off British motor cars exclusively, and British wireless sets and gramophones, or any other -British made article sold, on the instalment plan. There is nothing 'altruistic about this, on the contrary it.-;will be to out direct benefit to give all. the trade, we can to Britain, and to .'give her all the preference it is possible, to give. , For the more of Britain’s manhood is employed at a reasonable rate of wages the greater will be the demand for our dairy produce and oiir frozen meat. Tlie object, behind the scheme is to increase thefpurchasing power, of the people ■rniidJit is to onr interest and benefit to, help; in that direction. ~ : 'The motor car has ceased to be a luxury and is now one of the necessities of the economic world and of society wherever it may exist. Theage of rapid communications has : dawned, and celerity with which men and goods "an be moved has revolutionised society and now there appears to lie a comnlcte revision of every, practice, every 1 habit, every value that mankind knew.; The steam locomotive, the steamship, * the tramways, the telegraph and the telephone have all been helpful factors.! It is dreadful to visualise New Zealanc depending to-day on sailing ships or bullock drays or hansom cabs. The troduction of the common carrier as represented by the railway or the steamship operated for the benefit of the many. I

Writing of this, one authority observes: “ Great masses of-goods and men began to move about freely from place to place; neu\ levels of economic welfare came into being from the quickened ability to produce, exchange, and consume in greater quantities. Mass production and mass consumption were made possible solely as a consequence] of mass transportation, and mass transportation remains to-day the determin- ‘

ing factor irtthe possible growth of "the ? economic structure. .. f J “Parallel with it, of course, run. s ! the vital supporting factor pf improved, communication of ideas, for Withoot the telephone and the telegraph and. the wireless it would be, impossible, t'obuild up and to maintain in‘an, intelli-' gent and coherent. state the,.complex, organisations that alone cam ..conduct, commercial , operations on , so, ,vast" ft' scale.” Th

e need for co-operative piass. transrl portation will always exist, and is attendant on being tremendously augmented by the extended use of the. motor car. Some claim that the motor' oar is the greatest creator of wealth that the. world, has ever known. It. is issential in this age of. rapid communi-•ati-ms and it has brought -materia] benefit to millions. - There is the benefit to the’men who labour at the direct processes of manu» 1 facturing. Behind these- men- there reached back an endless chain' bf economic advantage—the miner who digs the iron from the earth ; the .'man whci ; converts that iron into steel and fa"sh- : ions it; the Oriental who draws rubber from the trees and those-‘who follow' alter him in converting -rublM - into j tyres; to the wood-cutter in Canada, j the cork-cutter in Spain; the men who ' produce graphite and ‘ barium and asbestos and tantalum and ' tungsten; *j silk and cotton and leather and they hundred and one materials from' a score ' of lands that go into the building of a motor car. Shippers, watersiders, and others who handle the raw materials get,a direct benefit. Then there are the men who sell the cars, the men who sell petrol, to say nothing of the men who work on the oilfields and the refineries. There is mass production because there is mass consumption. There are still many people in the Dominion who look upon the motor car as a luxury, „but. .they are mistaken for there is not one of us who would exchange this ne\y wheel for the wheels of Cobb . and;'*Co.’s coaches. It is up to us‘to help Britain to mass production and the benefit will be ours as mucE as theirs *