RUMOURS CONFOUNDED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 102, 2 May 1930, Page 8

RUMOURS CONFOUNDED.

PURCHASE OF MOTOR-CARS. REFLECTION ON PREMIER. MR. VEITCH GIVES THE FACTS. A flat denial, with figures to support it, was given last evening at KohimaVama by the Hon. W. A. Vcitch, Minister of Labour, when lie referred to what he described as "a little story that had been whispered round the city" concerning the purchase of motor car a by the Government. . Humour had it, he said, that Whippet cars of a totul value of £(50,000 had been purchased by the Government from thu linn with which the name of Sir Joseph Ward was associated. "I do not intend to deal with many of the charges that are.inevitably circulated during a campaign in which feeling must necessarily be aroused" in the mfnds. of the people, but this refers to one who is not here and for the moment not able to defend himself," said Mr. Veitch. He gave the following details, telegraphed yesterday from Wellington, of purchases by Government Departments during the hist twelve months: — Railway Department: 2(3 British bus chassis (bodies made in Now Zealand), 1 Austin car, 1 Canadian Ford truck. Public Works Department: G Austin cars, 15 Ford cars, u Dodge cars, i Essex cars, 1 Whippet car, 41 Ford small vans, 2 Morris trucks, 1 Chevrolet truck. 1 Ford truck, 2 Graham trucks. Post and Telegraph Department: 12 Austin cars, !) Ford cars, 1-t Austin email vans, 45 Ford small vans, 5 Whippet small vans, S Ford trucks, -1 Guy trucks, 14 Thornycroft trucks. Other Departments, including ' Public Health and Forestry: 50. Austin cars, 18 Ford cars, 1 Morris car, .11) Whippet cars. 7 Ford small vans, 1 Morris truck, 10 Ford trucks, 1 Whippet truck, 1 Thornycroft truck. Mr. Veitch remarked that the number of Whippet cars constituted a lower percentage of the whole than that of any other type of cur purchased. British cars predominated in the Departmental purchases, and the clearest feature -oi the figures was" that if any distinction had boon shown at all it had been shown against Whippets.

All cars bought for Government Departments were ordered by tender by the Stores Control Board, said the Minister. The Government was certainly not influenced in the purchase of cars as between one firm and another, and no advantage or preference had been given to the firm with which "the name of Ward was associated."