EFFECT OF THE MOTOR-CAR

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 36, 6 November 1928, Page 10

EFFECT OF THE MOTOR-CAR

LOSS OF LOCAL TRADE Small towns and wayside villages in New Zealand (as elsewhere in the world) have long ago discovered that the fast-moving motor-car is a deterrent to trade. In the old days of coach-driving such places were utilised as convenient stopping-places for meals, and to bait or change horses. But tlie coach lias gone, and in its place is tlie speedy motor-car. This has had a serious effect on certain aspects of trade. A restauranteur, who has just given up business in Wellington, said that it was once a common thing to provide 400 meals on the evening of a race day in )V ellington, but nowadays country folk who used to put up in town, have their motorcars ami return home to the Wairarapa or even to places on the Plim-merton-Waikanae side, the same evening. The experience of hotel-keepers is tlie same. Race days in Wellington used to mean a shortage of accommodation. but the motor-car is in such general use liy country people that a meeting at Trantham means very slight accession to tlie ordinary demand for accommodation.