THE MOTOR AGE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 12, 15 January 1913, Page 6

THE MOTOR AGE

Few people appear to realise the enormous expansion of motor traffic throughout the world in the la?t few years— an expansion in which New Zealand is taking a fair proportionate share. In America it is estimated there are a million motor vehicles in use today. Europe has several hundred thousand, Australia some twenty thousand, and New Zealand five or six thousand. The numbers are increasing tremendously year by year, and it may be that before 1913 is out the number in New Zealand will be well over seven thousand. Such aii expansion in the use of the motor for travel and transport means a revolution in the system oi life. Already in some parts of America the railway receipts are being hit hard by private motor traffic, and in London the motor 'bus has dealt a severe blow at the profits of the London County Council's electric tramways. Even in New Zealand there are signs of a similar tendency. Wherever tho roads are good and the railway service infrequent, as, for instance, in Hawkes Bay and the Wairarapa, people prefer the motor to the train. The number of cars in such districts is simply astounding, and increases every year. If it cannot be said that the £100 motor for New Zealand is in sight, tho £200 car is already here, and for those whoso pockets cannot go that far there is the reliable motor-cycle and the side-car, with the cycle-car certain to appear before the season is out. The country generally is prosperous, jukl this year there is certain, to be a groat development in the use of the motor vehicle— car or cycle— for travel and pleasure purposes. On the other hand, equal growth is shown in the application of the motor to commerce in tho shape of transport vehicles. The commercial car, the delivery van, the heavy motor wagon, the motor 'bus, are coming into vogue in New Zealand after achieving definite success in older countries. In the motor movement in this direction the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department has certainly led the way in the adoption of motor mail and parcel wagons and motor-cycle mail collecting. Large private concerns are rapidly following suit, and the motor wagon is a familiar spectacle in WeU lington streets. Th© City Fire Brigade keeps with the times also, and has superannuated or disposed of its horses and filled their places with motor fire engines. The City Council has its official cars and motor cycles for municipal purposes. The taxi-cab suppje- j mentß the tramways. In a word, it is a motor age. New conditions raise new problems, and new problems must be solved by new methods. The problem of the motor and motor traffic in New Zealand is one that the Government must consider. The old law, passed when motors were few and far between, with little influence in the life around them, is now absolutely out of date. Local bodies, closer in touch with the new conditions, may make bylaws and regulations to deal with motor traffic, but there are fundamental and basic factors in the problems which concern the State itself. Bylaws differ according to place and conflict in essential points; local bodies differ in their charge of registration fees ; speed limits vary according to locality— the whole business' is at present chaotic. There are one or two essential factors of the motor problem which may be noted here. First, there is the factor of roads. Good roads are necessary for the best motoring, necessary also for cheap transport, whether horse-drawn or motordriven. In America the development of tho motor has been followed by a movement for good roads, which has affected nearly every part of the United States. Millions and millions of dollars are being spent on building, rebuilding, and improving roads in every State. It has been estimated that the cost of bad roads in America, as a penalty on cheap transport, comes to some £50,000,000 a year. If good roads are made and maintained, this will be saved. New Zealand has some good roads, but a great' many bad ones. Money spent in improving the roads throughout the Dominion would be money very well spent. Another matter ia that of registration. At present, so haphazard does this Bystern appear to be, that it is practically impossible to tell how many motor-cars there are actually in the country. The example of the Old Country should be here, and *all cars be registered by tho State and charged an annual fee according to weight and power, all moneys bo received to be devoted, as in the United Kingdom, to the improve ment of the roads. Vitally concerned with the motor problem is its relation to the general public as regards speed. This is admittedly a very difficult question to solve. Fixing speed limits has not proved very satisfactory in Wellington, as the regulations on this point are broken every day of the week. Some sort of general law prohibiting "excessive" speed would probably answer better, if the police enforced it with discretion. So far as Wellington is concerned, there are times in the twenty-four hours when it would be safe to go through the principal .streets of the city at twenty miles an hour. There are timeß also when it would not be safe to go through at six miles an hour, and on Saturday nights it is really not safe to go through at all. No fixed speed limit can meet all needs, but a flexible general regulation would enable tho true offenders to be punished, while the careful motorist would be subject to 110 interference. These and kindred matters are such as deserve the most careful consideration on the part of motorists, the public, and the Government. A strong Automobile Association could do a real public Service at this stage in focussing attention on the need for a better control of motor traffic.