ARMY OF UNREST.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 72, 25 March 1919, Page 8

ARMY OF UNREST.

TO BE RETURNED TO THE MANUFACTURERS. NO FLOODING OK THE MARKET. Brifjadier-General G. S. Richardson, in: a letter to the Minister of Defence, men-] tion~ lie has been informed that tho, makers of motor-lorries and ours used hv the Army have arranged to have the ' vehicles returned to ihem on de:nol>ili- 1 nation. '"If this is true," h<> sa.vs, "the New Zealand Government will require to purchase its requirements from the trade and not from the "War Office." This information wag supplied by the general in reply to a suggestion made to! the New Zealand Government by members of Parlicment las< session find forwarded by the Government to tho New Zealand Headquarters in England, that i stops should be ti-kon to secure for local j bodies in this country some of tho motor! lorries that have been used by tho! armies in thr> field. It was considered | that these lorries would be particularly! suitable for use in the Dominion, and that probably they would be cold cheap j when the armies were demobilised. '

Tho arrangement mentioned by General Richardson does 7iot soem to have been made the subject of an ofhVial announcement in tho Tiiited Kingdom, l<ut information that has renehed trade circles in this country confirms the report. The manufacturers, it appears, have been given an undertaking that the Imperial Government will not throw upon the open market the thousands of motor vehicles that have been acquired for Army purposes during the last four vcare. If this wore done, the markot would be dislocated, prices would fall, and manufacturers would find thi'lll* selves deprived of their normal orders for a long time to come. In order to guard against this, the surplus vehicles will bo returned to tho manufacturers, who will he left in make their own nrrangements for their disposal. Tt is quite possible that Xew Zealand will still be able to make an advantageous deal with some of these manufacturers.

A similar arrangement Has been dir- ! cussed in the United States. "To sell what trucks come back at auction in the open market," Rays "The Commercial Vehicle," "would throw the commercial motor truck market into a state of chaos which would take several years to ' overcome." One of the suggestions : made in the United States is that the Government should use many of the returned motor lorriee in a big scheme of road construction under direct Government supervision.