Valuable Statistics of
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THE NEW ZEALAND MARKET
TN the course of the past two years Ithe Charles Haines Advertising Agency, Ltd., which has its head office at the Dominion Building, Wellington, New Zealand, has devoted much study to statistics of the motor trade in that country, and a copy of its second annual report has now reached us.
The main islands of New Zealand have an area of 102,251 square miles, and of their 48,320 miles of roads, 10,403 miles are main highways ; the aggregate length of the railways is 3.287 miles. Of the total of 48,320 miles of formed roads, as at March 31st, 1929, 31,334 miles were of metal or gravel and 15,135 miles were not paved or surfaced, 254 miles being of bituminous or cement concrete and 1,472 being of bitumen or tar surface. The population at February, 1930, was 940,723 in the North Island and 529,931 in the South Island.
Sales Figures.
The tables in the report show that the total number of commercial vehicles registered in New Zealand on February 28th, 1930, was 31,928, the sales for the 12 months ended on that date being 5,259. By way of comparison, the importations during 1929, numbering 5,795 chassis, were more than double those of 3926, 1927 or 1928. There are more Ford commercial vehicles in the country than there are of—any other make, the total registrations being 13,667, or 42.81 per cent., and the sales of that make in the 12 months under review
were 1,850, or 35.18 per cent, of the total sales of commercial vehicles.
Chevrolet comes next with 4,613 whicles registered, or 14.45 per cent., and sales of 1,278 in the year. Third place is held by International with 1,591 registrations and 279 sales. The first British machine in the list is the Morris-Commercial, which occupies sixth place with a total of 746, or 2.34 per cent., vehicles registered, and sales in the 12 months of 127 vehicles, or 2.42 per cent. Thornyeroft sales were p8, and the total number of Thornycroft vehicles was 539; the corresponding figures for Leyland are 44 and 507, those for Dennis being 56 and 485, for Albion 12 and 255, for Vulcan 11 and 182, for A.E.C. 2 and 99, for Guy 21 and 99, for Daimler 3 and 96, for Earner 2 and 76, for Commer 0 and 22, for Maudslay 0 and 13, for Star 6 and 6.
An interesting feature is that, out of the total commercial-motor registrations of 31,928, those that have become dormant amount to 4,178, so that the number of vehicles in actual use was 27,750. It is pointed out that the number of goods-carrying vehicles far exceeds the number of passenger carriers.
An analysis of the types of vehicle reveals that more than half of (hem are of 1-ton capacity, the figure being 16,732. There were at the end of February 6,255 2-tonners, 1,503 3-tonners, 724 4-tonners, 304 5-tonners, 45 6-tonners and 21 machines with a payload exceeding six tons. The large margin by which the proportion of
1-ton vehicles exceeds that of the 30-cwt and 2-ton class is noticeable.
Average Values.
The average value per unit at port o shipment during 1929 was £192, a! against 1193 for 1928. A further stud. of this subject of average values re veals.the interesting fact that the figurt for British vehicles has fallen frolic £547 in 1924 to £319 in 1929. Tin average value of the Canadian vehiclet fell from £101 in 1924 to £65 in the following year, thereafter rising to £10Z in 1929. The average value of machineo from the U.S.A. has fallen steadily frorc 1251 in 1924 to £153 in 1929.
Of the commercial vehicles sold during the 12 months under review, the distribution was 3,643 to the North Island and 1,616 to the South Island.
Tractors in use on New Zealand farms, in 1929, numbered 3,377, as against 2,883 in 1928, and 2,588 in 1927. The leading makes are Fordson, Massey. Barns, Case, McCormick-Deering, Hart-Parr, Twin City, John Deere, Lanz Bulldog, Caterpillar and Cletrac Crawler, the last two mentioned being of the track-laying variety.
The Compulsory Insurance Act came into active operation in 1929, setting out the principle that the vehicle, and not the owner, is the responsible entity. The premiums payable for third-party risk are £1 10s. per annum for commercial vehicles or private cars used for trade or business, and £1 for private cars not used for business.