TYRES & TUBES

Grey River Argus, 1 May 1942, Page 3

TYRES & TUBES

RATIONING DETAILS Purchase or Retreading Stopped EXCEPT FOR ESSENTIAL VEHICLES. [Per Press Association.] P.A. WELLINGTON, April 30. No longer will the owner of a private car or non-essential business or commercial vehicle, be able to buy new tyres or tubes, or have them retreaded. Some new tyres and retreading facilities will be available for essential vehicles, of which the full list is issued by the Minister of Supply, Hon. D. G. Sullivan as follows :—

(a) On cars operated by essential Government services; doctors, visiting nurses or veterinary surgeons and clergymen. (b) On a vehicle used exclusively for ambulances and hearses, police, fire brigades, public health and sanitary services, mail services, construction, manufacture and maintenance of defence facilities and requirements where no other jneans of transport are reasonably available. Tyres will not be made available for large cars, where small cars can. perform the service.

Public Passenger Transport:—On public, road passenger-service (including school ’buses and taxis, but excluding rental cars and tourist and sight-seeing services), where other means of transport are not reasonably available. Commercial Vehicles used exclusively for the following purposes, where no other means of transport are reasonably available: Cartage of wood and coal, construction or maintenance of public roads, cartage of material and equipment for public utilities, or public activities; or essential to render roofing, plumbing, heating and electrical repair services; cartage of licensed public carriers on a fully rationed basis; cartage by farmers of material and equipment essential for farming between the farm and nearest railway station or source of supply, and farm produce between the farm and the nearest butter or cheese factory, railway station, or point of disposal. Cartage of raw materials, semi-manufac-tured goods, and finished products, including foods (provided that no approval will be given for tyres to be used on a truck used principally for (a) the cartage of commodities to the ultimate consumer for personal, family or household use—excepting milk—or (b) the cartage of materials for construction and maintenance except as specially provided above); on farm tractors or other farm implements, other than cars, for the operation of which tyres, casings, or tubes are necessary; on industrial, mining and construction equipment, other' than cars or trucks, for the operation of which rubber tyres, casings or tubes are essential. What the vehicle owner must do to obtain a tyre or tube or have a tyro retreaded: —Satisfy himself that the vehicle comes within the above classification; obtain two permit forms from his dealer or the approving officer, fill them in and sign them and have them signed also by the supplier of the tyre or tube or in the case of a retread, by the retreader; submit to approving officer for approval. The approving officers are the District Officers of the Transport Department in the four main centres and the Traffic Inspectors of the Transport Department in places outside the four main centres. The same procedure must be followed before a user may fit any tyre or tube which he may have in his possession, excepting that no dealer’s signature is necessary. No approval- will be given to purchase a new tvre if the worn one is suitable for retread. It is essential that operators do not wear tyres beyond the retreading point and that they conserve their tvres in every possible way. A careful operator will get double or more the mileage of a careless one.

SEVERE PENALTIES.

The penalties for anv breach of the regulations are most drastic, involving a fine or imprisonment and every tyre dealer and vehicle owner would be well advised to acquaint himself fully with the regulations. A monthly quota will operate for each postal district, based upon availability of tyres and rubber. Therefore, it does not follow that even although the eligibility of the vehicle and the need for the tvre is established, that the new tyre or the retread will be available. The needs may be greater than the quota. Attention is again drawn to the recent notice calling upon the owner of every motor vehicle—car, or truck, private, commercial or publicly owned— to furnish the Secretary of Supply, Wellington, with a list of all new tyres and' tubes in his possession on 31st March, 1942, over and above the normal wheel equipment of each vehicle. A new tyre is defined as one which has run 1,000 miles or less. Non-compliance involves a severe penalty and those who, through ignorance of the regulations or for other reasons have not made a return, should rectify that omission at once.