MOTOR VEHICLES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 April 1938, Page 9

MOTOR VEHICLES

FACTS FROM THE LICENCE RECORDS. The re-licensing of motor vehicles, which will commence on May 2. will again provide evidence of the great advance in motor ownership in the Dominion. However, there is a limit to the life of these machines, and the Post Office registration system gives some evidence on the point. Every motor vehicle registered in the Dominion has its record card in the Central Office at the G.P.O. Re-licensing by May 31 in each year keeps this record card in the current register, but if relicensing is not effected promptly, the record becomes dormant, and if not revived for two years it is cancelled. The official records show that in the nine years from 1929 to 1937, inclusive, dormant registrations cancelled during this period total 94,926. They comprise 40,914 cars, 23,402 commercial vehicles, and 30,610 motor cycles. A close connection between economic conditions and the yearly cancellations of motor vehicle registrations can be seen when the yearly details of the cancellation process are set out as follows:—l929, 6762; 1930, 8338; 1931. 12,785: 1932, 12.872; 1933. 14,162: 1934. 12.331; 1935. 9898; 1936. 8466: 1937, 9312.