MOTOR TRADE.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 164, 23 December 1926, Page 7

MOTOR TRADE.

NEW SOUTH WALES FIGURES. A writer in one of the Sydney newspapers quotes a wealth of figures in support of his forecast that, in the next four years, there will be spent in New South Wales in connection with motor transj>ort more than half the existing national debt of the State. While this may suggest a flight of the imagination, the writer draws the further deduction from a labyrintliic maze of figures that in the purchase alone of motor transport, apart from running expenses, extras and such like, more than £55,000,000 will be spent in the State in the next four years. The motor trade at least hopes that it is not an unduly optimistic estimate. The value of motor vehicles in the State at the present tim.e is stated to be £34,000,000 and this is said to bo a conservative estimate. The sum of £13,000,000 is given as the amount spent annually on running expenses. A Bill which the Government is now negotiating through the Lower House will not, if it becomes law, be welcome to those other than British in the motor trade. The Bill makes it compulsory for shires and municipal councils to exercise a preference for goods manufactured or produced within the Commonwealth or the British Empire. As motor transport is now a big factor in local government, these bodies will be compelled to purchase British machines. The Bill is being vigorously opposed by the Opposition, on the ground, broadlv, that it is an unwarrantable interference with the rights of locai government. Its passage through the Lower House is assured. What will happen to it in the Upper House remains to be seen. Under the Greater Sydney Bill, to be introduced shortly, the City Council, which spends a huge amount on motor transport, wil also be compelled to observe the principle of preference. These two measures, if they get on the Statute Book, will mean a fair loss to those trading in foreign ears, and more esoeially in American products.