AUTOMOBILES AND THE PUBLIC

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22678, 5 April 1939, Page 5

AUTOMOBILES AND THE PUBLIC

' * EFFECT ON MANNER OF LIVING ADDRESS TO ENGINEERING SOCIETY "The way one actively influences another is a fascinating study—the effects of the automobile industry oh our manner of living may be taken as an example,” said Mr R. J. F. Porterj of Christchurch, in an address last night ■ to members of the Canterbury University College Engineering Society. Mr Porter’s address, m which he discussed the effects on the public of the manufacture of automobiles, was given on behalf of the New Zealand branch of the Institute of Automobile Engineers, a member of which delivers an. address annually to the socisty* • “What some of the effects' are will readily occur to any observer, but there are other effects that probably would not suggest themselves to every mind because they are too closely related to us; but one of these is the tremendous effect of the automobile on housing, on building, in fact on the construction industry. Consider the work and material required to build garages for

the 40,000,000 automobiles in use in the world to-day. Then there is road construction. . When roads were,, improved for the ’ motor-car and pushed in all directions, young married people found that cheaper land for home sites could be had further out. And so hundreds of new-built homes converted the country into’ residential areas, and each section, soon with its Own business centre, created a building revival of immeasurable ’ extent. Effect on Costs “The motor-vehicle has done more than extend the building area. It has also affected building costs and methods. It has hauled bigger loads of lumber, bricks and. .stone longer distances in less timeand; aft : lower costs than horse teams. In excavation the slow expensive wheelbarrow gave way to the swifter and cheaper selfdumping motor-truck. • Even -that does not tell of all the influence of the automobile on, the building industry. Service followed the car. „ It meant thousands of filling statibhs and independent garages.” ' , Sixteen years ago only 10 per cent; of the automobiles produced were closed cars, said Mr Porter. Most of the others were stored away for the winter. Now 91 per cent.; of the. cars, produced were closed. That change alone built glass factories,' The closed car made better upholstery feasible, and that built textile factories. All-the-year-round driving used more petrol, lubricants, tyres, l and many other parts, which extended business and called for yet more building. With all ’ the latest inventions in machinery, the tendency for thought was towards unemployment and other difficulties. In some countries laws had

been passed to try to prohibit labour-; saving and labour-serving . machinery, and to tax machines to discourage their use. The cbntroversy between handwork and machine work was absurd. The cost of a' modern automobile selling now in New Zealand .for £3OO. would, on the basis of handwork,- be about £6600, Without machinery there . would be no automobile industry. New Industries. V “No one can be indifferent to the charge that machinery diminishes employment. But it is not easy to under? stand how anything so useful to man can be as harmful as alleged. _ The.; fact is that jobs have multiplied faster - than people during the machine age.,. It always surprises people,to learn max, most, of the machinery in use is not;., labour-saving at all. .Most'' of it‘ ‘is,-labour-creating or .labour-serving. ■ . “It enables men to work at. tasks that never would, have- been'’attempted otherwise. Since modern machinery,.; appeared, a number of great industries had sprung up that never.; could have existed Without machinery. Rarely does a new industry displace an old one. Progress always absorbs - more than it rejects, and, of course, it takes everyone with - it. There are, naturally, other points to consider about the machine, but the charge that it makes' jobs scarce does not stand.