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DEVELOPMENT OF MOTOR TRANSPORT Licensing- of Motor-vehicles by Principal Groups.—Under the Motor-vehicles Act, 1924, motor-vehicles are required to be registered and licensed. Such licences are renewable annually, and the following table gives the number of motor-vehicles in the principal groups, licensed as at the 31st March, 1948, the figures for the two preceding years being included for purposes of comparison :

All classes of vehicles licensed at 31st March, 1948, showed gains over the figures for the preceding year. Table No. 1 of the Appendix shows full details of the licensed motor-vehicles as at 31st March, 1948, by postal districts. Table No. 2 gives, for purposes of comparison, the number of motor-vehicles licensed year by year as at 31st March, 1937 to 1948, inclusive. Petrol-consumption.—The table hereunder shows for the individual calendar years 1937 to 1947 the estimated quantities of petrol consumed by motor-vehicles, used for other purposes, and the total consumption :

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Number licensed as at 31st March. Increase of Type. 1948 over 1940. 1947. 1948. 1947 Licences, Cars 201,425 202,437 217,871 15,434 Trucks not exceeding 2 tons laden 30,435 33,134 36,591 3,457 Trucks exceeding 2 tons laden 23,499 25,375 28,839 3,464 Passenger-trucks 1,947 1,997 2,100 103 Omnibuses.. .. 1,025 1,133 1,267 134 Taxis, including private-hire cars 2,113 2,147 2,231 84 Service cars 595 637 679 42 Rental cars 546 828 1,047 219 Motor-cycles 16,167 17,699 19,066 1,367 Trailers 20,031 22,788 25,254 2,466 Local-body and other vehicles exempted from 11,903 14,451 17,549 3,098 annual licence fees Government vehicles 5,814 8,296 8,455 159 Totals 315,500 330,922 360,949 30,027 or 9-07 per cent.

Estimated Consumption of Petrol. Calendar Year. By Motor-vehicles (i.e., Petrol on which all Duty was paid). Other (i.e., Engines, Aeroplan'es, &c., on which Refunds of Duty were made). Total. 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 Gallons. 82,111,000 89,306,000 91,955,000 74,114,000 66,924,000 46,100,000 50,178,000 53,663,000 65,541,000 86,440,000 101,270,000 Gallons. 7,339,000 7,590,000 8,027,000 9,649,000 15,326,000 10,442,000 9,200,000 9,000,000 9,045,000 10,146,000 13,746.000 Gallons. 89,450,000 96,896,000 99,982,000 83,763,000 82,250,000 56,542,000 59,378,000 62,663,000 74,586,000 96,586,000 115,016,000