Motor Notes

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19532, 13 March 1926, Page 2 (Supplement)

Motor Notes

THE NEW MOTORING YEAR '

TAXATION. ROADS. LEGISLATION AND SHOWS. (By H. Massac Buist. London.) Motoring legislation has been pro- < iriiscd so often that the public almost eeases to believe that it will ever materialise. Onee. it is true, in the post- {; war period, legislation concerning' motoring was introduced. It gave us ji the amazing law whereby the left hand drive was **wangled** in the interests of certain trans-Atlantic suppliers. M The innovation has proved a never end- I ing danger to th*' public, as testified by H an increasing number of coroners’ ver- j. diets. The American industry did nnt is wish to have its war vehicles thrown i: on to its home market. It preferred jl to jettison them on curs, to the swamp- 1 ing of our own industry. Stand by the Roads. Whose looks for forthcoming legis ’ lation absolutely to codify the laws 1 concerning roads and motoring is fore- J doomed to disappointment. Undoubt-| 1 rdiy the greatest work to which motor- ’ ists and motoring organisations can set j 1 themselves during this year is to stand i

by the grand work of road evolution for twentieth century needt. At the very time when we are beginning to get this task under way in Great Britain the Treasury is seeking to limit the amount of money that shall be spent on the roads. The money has been raised out of the taxation of motoring and there is no possibility of making believe that we have yet possessed ourselves of thoroughfares suitable for modern industry and comjmerep. This is no proposition for the !ben<flit of any one class to the exclusion of others. We have also frankly * to recognise that the local bodies which have to contribute to road mainitcnance. cannot raise any more money •by rates. Therefore an increasing measure of the. work must come on to the Road Fund, which is rightly regarded I as created in the twentieth century to [fulfil needs that have arisen in our [ time. Our roads must cost us increasing sums for the sufficient reason that they are being used as never before. The [return of the community to commercial I well-being depends on nothing more | ■than it does on the provision of excel- | I lent roads. Not enough money is rais-! led by taxation for current work. The | ’position w»ll be far worse when it is undertaken on the much larger scale that is necessary to expedite matters.

[The proposition of certain motoring /organisations that a huge loan should be raised and work expedited during the next two or three years is not a good one. Far better to pay as we go. Moreover, if we do that there is no possibility of arguing that all the money raised by motor taxation will not be needed for road expenditure. Now, and for many years to come, the question should he rather: how much more is the Treasury going to contribute to that fund from general revenue? An Opportunity Missed. As for the motoring organisations of (the country in general, they have be- ! frayed the community almost tragically. ■ The road issue before the community is {grave. There never was a time when it I was more necessary to present a united ’motoring front. If the motoring organisations individually and collectively would me statesmen like they will not even rest content with presenting a strong front. They will unite with all the authorities concerned with the roads. Then it will be possible to present th? Government with the will of those who own the votes. Against that •no Government could act: therefore {the Treasury would be baulked of its [intended prey. As it is. if the motorling organisations act the "00l much longer we shall find the work of road evolution abandoned once more. This lis no time to change cither the amount >or the basis of taxation. Whatever the I ills of the current system, they are ! bearable, provided we have adequate i roads in exchange for our money. Tf jwe attempt to meddle with the basis | of motor taxation, or the amount of it we shall lack for roads: and we shall deserve our fate.

The Industry and the Trade. As regards motor and trading prospects, these are reasonable as regards the passenger car industry. But the situation is delicate. It is not that there is any likelihood of immediate over-production in this country, other factors being equal. The danger lies on the other side of the Atlantic, where there must inevitably be over-produc-tion before long. This is fully realised by American bankers. What is not understood in England is that, tariff or no tariff, such trans-Atlantic overproduction is, and must be always, disastrous to the European industry and trade, and to Britain in particular. The reason is that when they get to the inevitable position of over-production the American bankers do not seek to make presents of motor vehicles 'o their buying public at home. Instead, they turn a bad state of affairs to account by ruining the motor industries in other countries. Ido not wish it to be understood that world over production of motorcars will occur this year. I cannot foretell when it will occur. The point is that motor manufacturing is undertaken on such a vast scale nowadays that it will be impossible to prevent h slump when buying on a large scale ceases. Perhaps the factor on which the whole thing will turn will be next summer’s harvest of cereals in America. Tn spite of ideas to the contrary, America’s wealth begins always on the farms. If thev have a good harvest everything else prospers in America: per contra, if the agriculturists have a bad year, everything else languishes. Until next year’s harvest is reaped American manufacturers will not know whether they have committed themselves overmuch.

Scottish Show Prospects. This ever-present risk apart, there is every reason to look forward to a very good motoring year as far as the home industry, and the trade alike in British-built and in foreign-built motor vehicles, are concerned. The duty on the imported passenger vehicle in no wise prejudices the sale of it in the British Isles; nor has it sent up the cost to the buyer; therefore it has not limited his choice among the world’s products. Our shows this year will begin on October 21 with the 20th passenger car exhibition at Olympia, Kensington. We shall have an October exhibition in 1927, too. Therefore for three years conclusively, there will bo October shows in London. That will establish British precedent firmly. There is some talk of there being no Paris show this year again; but it is too early to ascertain that definitely. It. suffices to say that, apart from a busy autumn show programme in London, Glasgow will be in possession of her now industrial exhibition building in Kelvin Grove on the site of the temporary war building burnt last year. The first use to which this new edifice will be put will be tin* 25th International Yearly Scottish Motor Show. Probably the opening date will be December 1. Assuredly, the occasion will be a memorable one in the annals of motor trading.