FEWER MOTORS

Hokitika Guardian, 20 February 1932, Page 6

FEWER MOTORS

BRITISH CARS PREDOMINATE

FALL OF £1,900,102,

An analysis of motor vehicle imports into New Zealand during 1931 shows a decrease of nearly £2,000,000 in value as compared with the total for 1930. The Controller of Customs has issued a return showing the total value in car, truck and chassis imports at £578,038, as against £2,478, LlO in 1930, a difference of £1,900,102.

The figures are computed from the current domestic vahies in the country of export, plus 10 per cent. The decline has naturally resulted in a huge decrease in the !>enefit to the Consolidated Fund , from duties. Motor importers are already considering approaching the Government with the suggestion that imports could be given an impetus if the duties were reduced. It is contended that increased imports at lower tariffs might yield more revenue to the Government than the. existing small import rate at high duty schedules.

The statistics show also that numerically there was a very large decrease, the total for last year being 4014, which is less than a -quater of the number brought into the Dominion in the previous year, when 17,363 vehicles were imported. DETAILS OF CAR IMPORTS

The total number of cars and car chassis imported from all sources was 3388, compared with 14,314 in the preceding 12 months, a decrease of appromimamely 74 per cent. Cars and car chassis from the United Kingdom numbered 2414, a decrease of 817 compared with the total for 1930, when 3231 British passenger vehicles were imported. In 1929 the figure was 1064, while thee were 2364 in 1928. Numerically, British cars headed the list last year by a considerable margin. The Canadian total was 482, while there were 475 from the United States, 13 from Italy, two from France, and one each from Belguim and Germany. In 1930 the imports Of cars from Can\da were by far the largest, there being 8025, compared with 3231 from the United Kingdom and 3047 from the United States. OTHER MOTOR VEHICLES.

A total of 626 lorries, trucks, vans, buses and commercial chassis was imported in 1931, against 3049, or nearly five times as many, in 1930. The total "or 1929 was a record, there being 5759 commercial types brought . into the Dominion. Of last year’s total the greatest number came from the United States, which supplied 262, valued at £36,053. There were 213, representing £46,431. from the United Kingdom, 156, costing £13,548, from Canada, and one, set down at £242, from . Germany. The position was vastly different in 1930, when Canada accounted for 2038, or about 66 per cent, of the total of 3049 commercial types. In that year, also, 730 commercial vehicles were imported from the United States, and. only 272 from the United Kingdom. In addition, there were six from Belgium, two from Germany, and one from France. Comparatively, the smallest decrease lias ocurred in the United Kingdom products, which dropped from 272 in ’930 to 213 last year. The greatest difference is apparent in the Canadian imports, which fell from 2038 to 156, a difference of 1882. Considering the great falling-off in the importation of motor vehicles generally, interest has been very well maintained in United Kingdom products, which have declined to a comparatively small extent.