ROMANCE OF THE MOTOR TRADE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3381, 4 July 1927, Page 7

ROMANCE OF THE MOTOR TRADE.

FROM 12,000 A YEAR TO 500,000. STRIKING FIGURES. One of the most entrancing industrial romances is revealed in “The Motor Industry of Great Britain,’ a booklet issued by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, ■ Ltd., which covers the progress of the industry from its early days to 1926, and is the first attempt to provide a complete chart of Great Brfitain’s motor trade both in home and foreign markets. The total output in 1907, when the first census of production was taken, was 12,000. There was a drop of 1,500 the following year, but from then onwards the annual increase has been rapid, and the figures for 1925, the year of the last census, are:— Motor-cycles 157,000 Motor-cars 121,000 Commercial vehicles 32,000 Total 310,000 The estimated total for 1926 is 500,000. A remarkable feature is the development of motor-cycles from a “side-line” to a numerical majority of 4,000 over other types of vehicles. The growth in employment is shown by the accompanying table:— Year. Nos. employed. 1907 54,000 1911 99,000 1921 221,000 1923 220,000 1924 235,0Q0 1925 250,000 These figures relate' only to direct employment by motor firms, and are exclusive of the numbers employed in the tyre and body-building industries. The average weekly earnings of all classes of slalled and unskilled motor workers have increased since 1914 from 40s B|d to 79s sd, an increase in the annual wages bill from £7,500,000 in in 1914 to £40,000,000 at the present time. Other trades have benefited by this growth, particularly electrical engineering, for although the general engineering industry is more than 60 per cent, electriued, the percentage is much higher in the motor trade. Hie National exchequer has also profited. The amount collected from the sale of licences for the first three month of the present year is more than £14,000,000, and continues to grow. It must be admitted, however, that the “moving spirit” behind this amazing romance is petrol, the consumption of which has increased until last year it reached the colossal height of 674,342,418 gallons. It is interesting, in view of these figures, to note a reference to Richard Trevithick, the pioneer of the motorcar.

He built the first passenger-carrying locomotive for the roads in 1800, and its lirst run was at Camborne, in Cornwall, where, “to show how efficient” his machine was he ascended a hill of fairly steep gradient at four miles an hour, and travelled on the level at, “speeds” up to eight and nine miles an hour!