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REPORT.

1. INTRODUCTORY. The summarized outstanding points recorded for the year are as follows (1) Record number of new motor-vehicles. Registrations of cars numbered 29,837, compared with 25,796 for 1936-37, the previous record. Commercial vehicles were 10,413, compared with 8,999 for 1936-37, the previous record. (2) The number of all classes of motor-vehicle licenses at 31st March, 1938, was 280,327, which is easily the highest figure on record. (3) The estimated consumption of benzine by motor-vehicles during the year was 82,000,000 gallons, 10,000,000 gallons ahead of the figure for 1936-37. (4) Receipts from various forms of motor-taxation amounted to £5,887,206, compared with £5,350,420 for 1936-37. (5) Revision and simplification of weight and speed restrictions for heavy motor-vehicles. (6) Preliminary results of a traffic census conducted on main highways show increase over the previous figures for 1934-35 of up to 80 per cent, and 75 per cent, for the North and South Island respectively. (7) Receipts from special mileage-taxation on non-petrol-using vehicles amounted to £10,591, compared with £4,159 for 1936-37. (8) The total expenditure on roads, streets, and bridges in the Dominion amounted to £9,008,700 in 1936-37, compared with £8,077,975 for 1935-36. (9) Further investigations of road-safety matters by the Road Safety Council. (10) The results of the new statistics relating to motor accidents showed that during the year there were 4,062 road accidents involving personal injuries—243 persons lost their lives, 1,130 persons were seriously injured, and 3,961 suffered minor injuries. (11) A comparison between the number of deaths from road accidents during the nineteen months preceding and following the inauguration of the present road-safety campaign in September, 1936, shows a drop in the figures per million gallons of petrol consumed from 3-31 to 2-65. Had the deaths in relation to the volume of traffic continued at the same rate after the campaign was instituted as before, the deaths would have been 433 instead of 346 for the nineteen months ended March, 1938. (12) There was one fatal out of every seventeen accidents involving personal injuries, and for every twenty-one persons injured one person was killed. (13) Comprehensive steps taken in co-operation with the Education Department for the education of school-children in road safety. (14) Increased activity in publicity aimed at education of adults in road safety. (15) Improvement in machinery for securing reasonable enforcement of traffic laws. (16) Institution of Traffic Offences Bureau in Transport Department. (17) The claims paid and estimated liability for claims outstanding in the third-party - insurance scheme exceeded the premium revenue by 33 per cent. (18) Various steps taken by the Transport Licensing Authorities to improve the efficiency and labour-conditions in commercial road transport. (19) Inauguration of policy for fixation of freight charges on licensed road freight services where necessary and desirable in the public interest. (20) Rapid expansion in commercial air transport. (21) Taxi services in Christchurch City brought under the provisions of the Transport Licensing Act.

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