H.—4o.

Table L. — Analysis of Non-motor Traffic.

(h) G-BowTH of Motor-vehicle Tbaffic. Until 1934-35 only unrelated tallies, mostly lacking in details, had been taken on a few of the highways, while on the greater number no earlier data whatever is available. That there has been a rapid and fairly consistent growth of traffic due to the steadily increasing use of the motor-vehicle is well known. Some idea may be gained of the extent of this growth in past years from a study of the petrolconsumption figures and from the general increase in motor registrations. These are shown in the form of relative numbers in Table M and in Fig. 10. The number of motor-vehicles was not recorded prior to 1925, but the graph shows a fairly close connection between registrations and petrol-consumption since that date. Incidentally, it also shows to a marked degree the effect of the economic depression between 1930 and 1935.

Table M. —Showing the Increase in Petrol-consumption, 1915-1935, and in Registrations, 1925-1935.

It may be of interest to present here, as striking examples of the recent growth of motor-traffic. a comparison between traffic tallied on a few sections of rural highways during the recent census and the traffic on the same sections about ten years previously. The sections taken, as examples were selected solely by reason of being the only records available for this comparison. The decline of nonmotor traffic during the period is as marked as the advance in the motor-traffic.

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Averase Dailv Ton-mileaee Density (average Tonnage Proportion of Total Average .Daily ion mneage. carried). Non-motor Traffic. Highways District. Mileage. ' , Vehicular. Stock. Total. Vehicular. Stock. Total. Vehicular. Stock. _____ g. | j Ton- Ton- Ton- Per Per miles. miles. miles. Tons. Tons. Tons. Cent. Cent. Auckland North .. .. 930| 1,733 7,487 19,220 1-9 8-0 9-9 18-8 81-2 Auckland South .. .. 1,022$ 5,100 8,989 14,089 5-0 8-8 13-8 36-2 63-8 Tauranga .. .. 680| 2.430 14,565 16,995 3-6 21-4 25-0 14-3 85-7 Gisborne .. .. .. 362f 1,361 10,173 11,534 3-8 28-0 31-8 11-8 88-2 Napier .. .. .. 702 2,436 12,241 14,677 3-5 17-4 20-9 16-6 83-4 King-country .. .. 652| 700 4,229 1.929 1 1 6-5 7-6 14-2 85-8 Taranaki.. .. .. 442J 7,688 3,248 10,936 17-4 7-3 24-7 70-3 29-7 Wanganui .. .. 483J 1,966 4,698 6,664 4-1 9-7 13-8 29-5 70-5 Wellington West .. .. 455 2,924 5,131 8,055 6-4 11-3 17-7 36-3 63-7 Wellington East .. .. 474J 2,101 4,267 6,368 4-4 9-0 13-4 33-0 67-0 North Island .. 6,206 28,439 75,028 103,467 4-6 12-1 16-7 27-5 72-5 Nelson .. .. .. 640£ 3,391 2,466 5,857 5-3 3-8 9-1 57-9 42-1 WestCoast .. .. 519| 591 1,032 1,623 1-1 2-0 3-1 36-4 63-6 Canterbury North .. .. 330J 1,016 1,493 2,509 3-1 4-5 7-6 40-5 59-5 Canterbury Central 668 4,783 3,032 7,815 7-2 4-5 11-7 61-2 38-8 Canterbury South .. .. 737J 5,150 5,317 10,467 7-0 7-2 14-2 49-2 50-8 Otago Central .. .. 749| 2,028 2,144 4,172 2-7 2-9 5-6 48-6 51-4 Otago South .. .. 465J 2,947 3,404 6,351 6-4 7-3 13-7 46-4 53-6 Southland .. .. 859 6,703 5,944 12,647 7-8 6-9 14-7 53-0 47-0 1 South Island .. 4,970 26,609 24,832 51,441 5-4 5-0 10-4 51-7 I 48-3 I I New Zealand .. 11,176 55,048 99,860 154,908 4-9 8-9 13-8 35-5 1 64-5

(Index numbers : Base year 1925 = 100.) Relative Numbers. Year. — , Petrol- Motor-vehicle consumption. j Registration. 1915 .. . . . . . . 21 1916 .. .. .. .. 28 1917 .. .. .. .. 25 1918 .. .. .. .. 32 1919 .. .. .. .. 27 1920 .. .. .. .. 54 1921 .. .. .. .. 57 1922 .. .. .. .. 50 1923 .. .. .. .. 61 1924 .. .. .. .. 87 1925 .. .. .. .. 100 100 1926 .. .. .. .. 134 125 1927 .. .. .. .. 144 138 1928 .. .. .. .. 157 152 1929 .. .. .. .. 170 172 1930 .. .. .. .. 189 183 1931 .. .. .. .. 166 184 1932 .. .. .. .. 149 181 1933 .. .. .. .. 154 152 1934 .. .. .. .. 167 162 1935 . 185 ■ 177