PRIVATE CARS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 February 1942, Page 4

PRIVATE CARS

■» USE IN AN EMERGENCY NEW ZEALAND’S POSITION. NO PETROL, NO VEHICLES. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. In a statement authorised and issued on behalf of the New Zealand Motor Trade Federation, Mr C. R. Edmond, general secretary, says the miracle of Dunkirk was possible only because swarms of small craft that played such a meritorious part in the evacuation were in operating condition and ready for immediate use. The British Government had also seen and appreciated the potential and proved value in blitzed areas of private cars and a limited- basic ration of petrol had been issued continuously and was still being issued to every motorist. That basic ration was the counterpart of New Zealand’s coupon system and was intended to keep private cars on the road, ready for any use in New Zealand. However, the ban on the use of petrol was immobilising this important transport reserve, just as the need for it was changing from an improbable contingency to a very possible necessity. A continuation of the restriction must result in a large proportion of the usable cars getting into such a condition that to get them on to the road again quickly would be impossible. Public transport might become immobilised or fully occupied with the regrouping and supply of the forces and concentration of aid. in damaged areas. A large proportion of commercial vehicles would be engaged in lines of communication, E.P.S. and.E.F.S. work. A load would fall on private vehicles and they must be kept ready and ' also the garage services responsible for their maintenance. It was not a selfish approach. The greatest benefit that could be conferred on the trade was that we win the peace and to that end the federation was insistent and consistent in its statements of the national need for the issue of petrol in appropriate quantities. In Britain, subjected not to a threat but to the actual fact of intensive air attack and fighting the vital battle of the Atlantic, supplies of petrol were available to keep transport on the road. The British Government had found from experience that in times of intensive assault, private transport had a vital role to play. In Britain private cars were on the road in use and ready for use whenever an emergency call came. In New Zealand the need was equally vital.