H,— 4o

(5) Plates with initial letter " E " for vehicles exempt from payment of annual license fees. (6) Plates with the prefix " GOVT." for vehicles owned by Government Departments. (7) Plates with initial letter " H " for heavy trucks. (8) Plates with initial letter " L " for light trucks. (9) Plates with initial letter " P " for omnibuses. (10) Plates with initial letter " R " for trailers. (11) Plates with initial letter " S " for service cars. (12) Plates with initial letter " T " for taxis. (13) Plates with initial letter " V " for passenger trucks and " Contract " motor-vehicles. (e) Vehicles actually on the Road. The number of " live " registrations on the register kept in accordance with the provisions of the Motor-vehicles Act, 1924, may be taken as a reasonable indication of the number of vehicles actually on the road. The numbers of these " live " registrations have been estimated for each month, and the monthly averages for the twelve-monthly periods ended on 31st March, 1931, to 31st March, 1935, are given hereunder : —

N.B. Service-cars designed to carry not more than nine persons are included with motor-cars, while those designed to carry more than nine persons are included with omnibuses. The above table shows 5,946 more motor-cars 011 the road in 1934-35 as compared with 1J.33-34. The number of trucks also increased by 3,451, this representing an increase of over 10 per cent, as compared with the previous year. (/) Petrol Consumption. The following table shows a classification of the manner in which petrol was consumed in the Dominion during the last seven calendar years : —

The figures in the first column afford a reasonably reliable index of the usage of motor vehicles during the last seven years, subject to allowance being made for the growing use of smaller cars with a lower consumption of petrol, and also subject to the fact that in latter years a greater proportion of applications have been made for refunds on petrol not used m mo tor-vehicles.

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Monthly Averages. Type of Vehicle. ~ 1931. 1932. 1933. 1934. 1935. . Number. Number. Number. Number. Number. Motor-cars .. .. 134,407 130,889 127,115 123,331 129,277 Trucks .. I 25,294 26,232 26,907 29,863 33,314 Omnibuses .. ■. ' 1,040 1,048 1,000 iln Traction-engines . . 1 117 123 136 140 Trailers .. •• 923 1,160 1,545 2,400 2,407 Tractors 302 426 561 600 600 Motor-cycles !! !! 25,167 23,487 21,995 21,171 21,110 Other motor-vehicles . . 458 441 421 Totals .. 187,708 183,806 179,680 178,925 188,125

Consumption of Petrol. Calendar Year. By Motor-vehicles Aeroptae^&c.°Petrol j T 011 W !\ I ? on which Refunds of | all Duty was paid). Duty were made). I • Gallons. Gallons. Gallons. , q9 o .. 41,457,150* 2,057,940* 43,515,090* inon " " 56,575,840 3,650,040 60,225,880 loon 62,821,479 3,907,900 66,729,379 |go, " " " .. 55,203,252 5,286,000 60,489,252 1Q o 9 " " .. 49,861,449 5,495,479 55,356,928 iqoo " " . .. 51,262,371 5,400,0001 56,662,371 1934 " _ 55,914,450 6,100,000f 62,014,450 * Excludes an unknown amount of petrol on which duty was not paid. t Estimated.