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RETAIL DELIVERY SERVICES Inquiries made by departmental officers during the year show that reasonable delivery services are available to the public in the grocery trade, but that considerable hardship is being suffered in many homes some distance from shopping centres owing to the absence, in many towns, of delivery services by butchers and bakers. Efforts to encourage the resumption of the pre-war deliver}?- services in these places have so far been disappointing. AID FOR BRITAIN: PETROL-RATIONING To assist Britain in the economic crisis, petrol-rationing was reintroduced as from 15th November, 1947, after efforts to achieve voluntary savings had proved unsuccessful. To save man-power, the quotas of petrol-resellers were fixed on the basis of their sales for the corresponding month of the previous year, less 10 per cent. This system proved unsatisfactory and was abolished at the end of February, 1948 ; thereafter a simplified form of the wartime system of rationing by coupons and licences was put into operation. CHANGES IN TRANSPORT LAW DURING YEAR The following, in chronological order, are the principal enactments passed during the period Ist April, 1947, to 31st March, 1948 : jßevocation of the Warrant of Fitness Emergency Order 1947 (No. 2), (Serial No. 194:7/53). —The effect of this is to revert to the six-monthly inspections in the use of warrants of fitness for private cars. Motor-vehicles Registration Emergency Regulations 1947 (Serial No. 1947/75). — This restores as a temporary measure the system whereby licence labels are issued on annual relicensing of motor-vehicles instead of the change of registration plates. Motor-vehicles Insurance (Third-party Risks) Regulations 1939, Amendment No. 6 (Serial No. 1947/76). —This contains changes in the annual third-party insurance premiums for motor-vehicles. Motor-drivers Regulations 1940, Amendment No. 3 (Serial No. 1947/112). —The main effect of this is to limit the cases when a person who is defective in one eye may drive a public passenger-vehicle. Passenger-service Vehicle (Constructional) Regulations 1936, Amendment No. 1 (Serial No. 1947/137). —These contain certain added provisions concerning the construction of public passenger-vehicles, including a requirement that any school bus shall display at rear and front signs with the words " School Bus." Motor-drivers' Regulations 1940, Amendment No. 4 (Serial No. 1947/182). —This modifies the effect of Amendment No. 3 above by enabling the Minister to authorize a driver with one eye to continue to drive public passenger-vehicles if he has previously done so with a good record and is judged as safe to do so by a medical practitioner. Traffic Sign Regulations 1937, Amendment No. 2 (Serial No. 1948/3). —This enables some elasticity in the dimensions of traffic signs for indicating parking zones. Heavy Motor-vehicle Regulations 1940, Amendment No. 5 (Serial No. 1948/4). — This sets out procedure for urgent protection by a local authority of any bridge against use by heavy traffic which might be unsafe for that bridge. v It is desired to place on record the thanks of the Department for the willing and helpful co-operation afforded by the many transport and other organizations and local authorities with which the Department came in contact during the year. Particular mention is made of the New Zealand Road Transport Alliance, the New Zealand Carriers' Federation, the New Zealand Passenger-services Federation, the New Zealand Omnibus Proprietors' Association, the New Zealand Taxi-proprietors' Federation, the New Zealand Rental Car Proprietors' Association, the Drivers' Union, the North and South Island Motor Unions, the New Zealand Retail Motor Trade Association, the New Zealand Farmers' Union, the New Zealand Shipowners' Federation, and the Associated Chambers of Commerce. I wish to express my thanks to all the officers of the Department for their co-operation in carrying out the duties of the Department.

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