PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 85, 12 April 1939, Page 8

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

For their comparatively small numbers the people of New Zealand must be, if the Easter holiday traffic figures are any criterion, about the most mobile in the world. This year, with the exceptionally fine weather, which seems to have been fairly general throughout the Dominion, the movement of people by sea, land, and air has been prodigious. Rail traffic was heavy and sea transport between the Islands was fully patronised, but the greatest advances are in travel by road and air. Motor vehicles are more numerous than ever. Registrations for the first time in New Zealand's history now exceed 300,000; 27,000 more than last Easter and 50,000 more than Easter, 1937, as the Minister of Transport ! (Mr. Semple) points out in a statejment today, in which he notes that [between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Easter Monday New Zealand carried the heaviest traffic ever recorded. Those who were out on the road at those hours can well believe it. Even the so-called "luxury" main roads were taxed to the utmost. Such traffic inevitably creates a problem, with serious risks to road-users. While the number of fatal accidents, according to the Minister, shows no increase, the actual death-toll was greater, because in two single accidents seven people were killed. Easter road fatalities this year number 12, as compared with 8 last year and 11 the year before. Thus it is clear that much remains to be done in the direction of road safety, and the Minister can depend on the support of public opinion for any action taken to improve the position. Perhaps the most extraordinary

feature of the Easter traffic was the demonstration of the remarkable and growing popularity of air travel. Easter this year was the busiest period since the establishment of commercial aviation in the Dominion. Rongotai, Wellington's airport, has become a sort of Clapham Junction of the air, and between Thursday last and yesterday over a thousand people travelled to and from Wellington by air, a new record for Easter air travel in New Zealand. Across Cook Strait flights to and fro were almost continuous, all machines being fully loaded. On occasions like this Rongotai can be ranked among the busiest internal airports of the British Empire and is fast outgrowing its accommodation and capacity. Regular traffic is likely to increase substantially during the Centennial Exhibition period next summer and plans are being made to cope with it. The steady growth of internal air traffic in New Zealand stands out, as a new development in transport.