H.—4o

2. DEVELOPMENT OF MOTOR TRANSPORT. A. REGISTRATIONS OF MOTOR-VEHICLES, BY TYPES OF VEHICLE. Under the Motor-vehicles Act a new vehicle is registered and simultaneously licensed for the ensuing year or part thereof. The license is renewable each year. If a license is not renewed, the registration is classed as " dormant," and after remaining '' dormant " for two complete years is cancelled, the assumption being that the vehicle in question is permanently off the road. If, however, the vehicle is again brought into use after its registration has thus been cancelled, it is treated as a new registration. The registration figures set out hereunder, therefore, are not an exact record of the number of new vehicles introduced into our traffic system ; they include an unknown but probably small number of vehicles which have been out of commission for more than two years. The following table sets out the annual registrations since 1926 : —

The foregoing figures have been incorporated in the following table, which shows the relative increase or decrease in the annual registrations measured according to the figures for 1926 : —

An interesting feature of the above tables is the response shown by the oar, as compared with the commercial vehicle, to conditions of trade boom or depression. The car was influenced earlier by the depression, and has been slower in reacting to the improved conditions. Motor-cycles are falling behind, due, no doubt, to the increasing numbers of small cars. The commercial vehicle was influenced to a relatively smaller degree by the depression, and its rate of entry into our traffic system, taken over a number of years, seems to be accelerating. B. REGISTRATIONS OF MOTOR-VEHICLES, BY COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE. The following table shows the country of manufacture and the number of motor-vehicles registered during the years ended 31st March, 1927 to 1938, inclusive : —

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Year ended 31st March, | Cars. [Commercial Vehicles. Cycles. Total Registrations. 1926 18,811 4,409 ' 5,130 28,350 1927 16,439 4,692 5,464 26,595 1928 .. .. .. 12,531 3,399 4,560 20,490 1929 .. .. .. 18,739 4,167 4,768 27,674 1930 .. .. .. 20,802 5,745 4,300 30,847 1931 12,378 4,113 3,139 19,630 1932 .. . .. 6,151 2,656 2,058 10,865 1933 4,716 2,640 2,072 9,428 1934 .. .. .. 5,551 3,339 1,956 10,846 1935 12,895 5,011 2,233 20,139 1936 .. .. .. 19,469 6,445 2.421 28,335 1937 .. .. .. 25,796 8,999 3,028 37,823 1938 .. .. .. 29,837 10,413 3,018 43,268

Year ended 31st March, ' Cars. | Commercial Vehicles.' Cycles. ! Total Registrations. I I i L 1926 .. .. 100 100 100 100 1927 .. .. 87 106 107 94 1928 .... 67 77 89 72 1929 .... 100 95 93 98 1930 .. .. Ill 130 84 109 1931 .... 66 93 61 69 1932 .... 33 60 40 38 1933 .... 25 60 40 33 1934 .... 30 76 38 38 1935 .... 69 114 44 71 1936 .. .. 103 146 47 100 1937 .. .. 137 204 59 133 1938 .. .. 159 236 59 163

United States of [ Total Year ended 31st March, Great Britain. America or Other Countries, j j> e „i s t ra tj 0 ns. Canada. \ ® Motor-oars. 1927 .. .. 2,185 13,623 631 16,439 1928 .. .. 2,172 10,078 281 12,531 1929 .. .. 2,886 15,667 186 18,739 1930 .. .. 3,675 16,993 134 20,802 1931 .. .. 3,265 9,057 56 12,378 1932 .. .. 2,607 3,477 67 6,151 1933 .. .. 2,832 1,834 50 4,716 1934 .. 3,091 2,406 54 5,551 1935 .. .. 6,096 6,730 69 12,895 1936 .. .. 9,396 10,023 50 19,469 1937 .. .. 14,556 11,133 107 25,796 1938 .. .. 16,610 12,919 308 29,837 Totals .. 69,371 113,940 1,993 185,304