H.—4o.

2. DEVELOPMENT OF MOTOR TRANSPORT. A. REGISTRATIONS OF MOTOR-VEHICLES, BY TYPES OF VEHICLE. Under the Motor-vehicles Act a new vehicle is registered and simultaneously licensed for the ensuing year or part thereof. The license is renewable each year. If a license is not renewed, the registration is classed as " dormant," and after remaining " dormant " for two complete years is cancelled, the assumption being that the vehicle in question is permanently off the road. If, however, the vehicle is again brought into use after its registration has thus been cancelled, it is treated as a new registration. The registration figures set out hereunder, therefore, are nob an exact record of the number of new vehicles introduced into our traffic system ; they include an unknown but probably small number of vehicles which have been out of commission for more than two years. The following table sets out the annual registrations since 1938 :—

In comparison with the year 1938-39, new motor-car registrations for 1939-40 have fallen off by 37-4 per cent., commercial vehicles by 9-3 per cent., and motor-cycles by 18-8 per cent. B. REGISTRATIONS OF MOTOR-VEHICLES. BY COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE. The following table shows the country of manufacture and the number of motor-vehicles registered during the years ended 31st March, 1938 to 1940, inclusive :—

The proportion of car imports of American or Canadian origin to the total new car registrations has fallen from 41 per oent. in 1938 39 to 37 per cent, in 1939-40, while the proportion of cars of English origin has increased from 57 per cent, to 60 per cent. Omitting the imports of commercial vehicles from " Other countries," 4,004 of the 4,110 vehicles were trailers, imports from America' or Canada account for 75 per cent, of the new registrations, against 73 per oent. in the previous year. C. MOTOR-VEHICLES LICENSED AS AT 31st MARCH, 1940. The appended figures show the number of motor-vehicles licensed for the year 1939-40 as at 31st March, 1940 (the licensing year expires on 31st May each year) : —

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Year ended 31st March, J Cars. Commercial Vehicles. | Cycles. | Total Registrations. 1938 .. .. .. 29,837 10,413 3,018 43,268 1939 .. .. .. 28,937 10,862 2,233 42,032 191° • • 18,107 9,849 1,814 29,770

United States of Year ended 31st March, Great Britain. America or Other Countries. „ l otal . Canada. Registrations. M.olor-cars. 1938 .. .. 16,610 12,919 308 29,837 1939 .. .. 16,452 11,884 601 28,937 1940 .. .. 10,936 6,735 436 18,107 Commercial Vehicles. 1938 .. .. 2,032 5,697 2,684 10,413 1939 .. .. 1,961 5,419 3,482 10,862 1940 .. .. 1,394 4,345 4,110 9,849 Motor-cycles. 1938 .. .. 2,714 302 I 2 3,018 1939 .. .. 2,005 226 ! 2 2.233 194-0 .. .. 1,587 223 j 4 1,814

Type of Vehicle. North Island. South Island. I Zealand Total. Cars •• •• •• •• •• 146,475 j 73,463 219,938 Light trucks (2 tons and under laden) .. .. 18,332 I 9,307 27,639 Heavy trucks (over 2 tons laden) . . .. .. 14,818 i 6,741 21' 559 Passenger trucks .. .. .. .. .. 1,121 'g64 l '785 Omnibuses .. .. .. .. .. 551 203 754 Taxis .. .. .. .. .. .. 1J21 467 1,588 Service cars .. .. .. .. .. 369 253 622 Rental and private-hire cars .. .. .. j 441 j 312 753 Dealers'cars .. .. .. .. .. 1,285 576 1,861 Local-authority road vehicles .. .. .. 2,780 3 093 5' 873 Government vehicles .. .. .. .. 2,971 1 319 4 290 Trailers .. .. .. .. .. .. 6,931 ll'sis Dealers' motor-cycles .. .. .. .. 97 4g Motor-cycles .. .. .. .. .. 12,118 7,083 19,201 Totals .. .. .. .. .. 209,410 108,116 317,526