TRANSPORT PROBLEMS

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 August 1942, Page 8

TRANSPORT PROBLEMS

NO GREAT RETURN TO HORSE

Though it has been suggested that shortage of petrol and, abovei all, tvres. willl result in a return to horsedrawn transport in New Zealand, no l-p/oe-scale move in tins direction is vet 3 apparent, according to members d stall firms and officials ot the Department of Agriculture in Vvelhn,ton (says “The Dominion ). It inevitable that there must be some such trend if the war continues, but a number of difficulties stand in die W Between 1911 and 1940 the number of horses of all kinds m the Dominion fell from 404.284 to 2Jl>jBl, and of these many are of cmuse, thoroughbreds, unsuitable loi umis port haulage. The breeding o draught horses, experts say, has ffien seriously neglected m New Zmlarrn in recent years. According to one official of the Agricultural Depart rnent it takes four years to real a horse to working order. « K „„p Tim greatest hindrance to a back-to-the-horse” movement, however, is probably the dearth of skilled laboui it the carriage-building, blacksmithing and harnessmaking trades, almost completely neglected in recent years, with the growing mechanisation on the farms. The , village blacksmith was one of the hrst identities to cm appear with the introduction of mechanised transport. In artw centres smithies are operated as in days gone by; but the calling has g bad sufficient prospects to attract young recruits. When a county council was recently considering the pui chase of additional horses, it was advised that only fully-shod anil^ should be bought, because there were few men left who were willing mid lit enough to undertake to shoe a young horse for the hrst time, Cai-riage-builders and harnessmakers ate in similar short supply. Another drawback to the use ol horse-drawn transport in toe towns has been created by the tar-sealing ol roads. On hills, at least, horses are unable to get sufficient traction to pull a load anywhere near as great as that which they could handle with reasonable ease on the old macadam surface. A further difficulty is tnat, to do with horses, the same amount of work at present'done by inotrns, three times the number ol and drivers would be required, involving considerable additional expense.