ENGLISH MOTOR TRAFFIC.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17940, 7 December 1923, Page 4

ENGLISH MOTOR TRAFFIC.

SERIOUS RIVAL TO KAIL WAYS.

(SPECIAL TO "THE PKESS. ) AUCKLAND, December o. That the motor is proving a cry serious rival to the railways in Britain was a fact profoundly impressed upon Sir William Elliot, a well-known Aucklander who has just- returned from, tho Old Country. The price of petrol, when Mr Elliot was in Britain, was ls,6id a gallon, and it-s cheapness made tho motor a powerful competitor with tho railwajs evaen for long distance haulage and passenger traffic. The most striking development along these lines was tho übiquity of tho charabanc. Mr Elliov met a woman who had travelled from London to Inverness by "bus sen ices, involving many changes of course, but still a possible alternative to the railway. Such travelling is reminiscent of tho "lorry hopping" exploits of many New Zealand soldiers from the lighting line in France to Boulogne. Tho trade douo all over tho united Kingdom by these motor buses was enormous, said Mr Elliot. They had turned many a worker into a tourist on Sundays, and from 1 aisley of Greenock it was possible to make a trip into the heart of the Highlands on even to the golfers' Mecca, Gieneagles, in a single day. Thus it was not only to the railway, but to the minister of tho kirk and the Scottish Sabbath, that the motor was proving a serious rival. The old-time Sunday, when one might not even whistle, was largely dead, and although many in Edinburgh were still churchgoers, the tendency iu most parts of Scotland wag away from "auld grey kiry," to "church of greenfields." As well as a day for holiday jaunts, Sunday has also become a day of sport, tennis, boating, and especially golf.