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MOTOR DEVELOPMENTS IN THE DOMINIONS.

4th July 1918, Page 2
4th July 1918
Page 2
Page 3
Page 2, 4th July 1918 — MOTOR DEVELOPMENTS IN THE DOMINIONS.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A Chat with Mr. J. B. Clarkson.

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. RAVELLING VIA THE United States, Mr. J. B. Clarkson the managing director of ;. Messrs. •, Hope, Gibbons Sonsand j. B. Clarkson, Ltd., of Wellington and Christ,ehurch, New Zealand, approached our shores with some trepidation, for an iniportalit topic of conversation on board had been the terrible shortage of food prevailing in this country. So, he landedwith (1) a determination to shorten his fitay.-a,s much as possible and(2) a wellfilled -luncheon bas.ket pieued on him with great 'solicitation by the chief steward.

We dined with him soon after his arrival, and he .asked about.,the food shortage, which,. by the way, 1320 had been most successfully camouflaged by the maitre d'hotel, and all that we could say was, "Yes, this is it, and it is the best that the Hun, with all his ruthlessness, has been able to bring about," but we must confess that he made us think deeply when he said that there was, in cold storage in New Zealand, no less than eight hundred million pounds of mutton, whilst, in Australia, three million tons of wheat awaited the re-establishment of transport. Mr. Clarkson has now retraced his steps, and will not return to England until next April—unless the Hun shall earlier have signed an Allied peace. What he observed in the States made him feel very confident of the value of the help that is pouring civet the Atlantic.

He saw there the same development in theroad system that is taking place in Australia and New Zealand. In the Antipodes a great difficulty arises from , the fact that local stone is not readily available and that sand and shingle have so largely to be used in road making. They are dumped down in • heaps, 1.i:highly levelled, and left to be worked down to ornething -like a surface by passing traffie—a slow and most uncomfortable process. But the principle of binding the surface with some s.uitable material is gaining ground, and cement reads are rap: idly coming. lioads iunning north and south throughout the two islands of New Zealand ate almost certain to be laid, 'section by section.perhaps, butwhen they come they will be a great link .and a boon. To get from one town to another, perhaps only 20 or 25 miles away, it is now in some cases necessary to make a sea journey of 170 miles.

The development of the roads will remove one obstacle to motor progress in the Antipodes. Another is the attitude of labour, which, hitherto, has been most obstructive, the mistaken notion obtaining that motor vehicles would deprive men of their jobs. It is hard to teach the ignorant, and, when they threaten, as happened at one port in Australia, • to pitch into the sea a, van just landed and withit the agent's representative who had come to deliver it to a customer unless both man and van were at once re tinted to the steamer, it can be seen that mere blind obstruction can put a severe restraint on business. However, this phase is passing, and a little more familiarity with moto4 vehicles would possibly re move the prejudice. After all, we have little cause to throw stones in this country, for ignorance createda great deal of obstruction to the motor movement in its early slays, and it would not be hard to point to a dozen districts where needless prejudice's still prevail'. --The third great difficulty in the way-of motor de velopment has been the unwillingness of British meter manufacturers, as a whole, to go out df thei

way to meet the requirements of Australian and New Zealand-buyers. But,. as the result of his recent visit to this country, Mr. Clarkgon has gone away 'feeling more hopeful than he has ever felt before. He says that (sue manufacturers: have learned their lesson: they have a clearer insight into their dutY, and the export trade will, after the War, have such attention paid to it as it has-never yet had.

There still remains the difficulty of giving adequate service for, if this is-not proVided, all our efforts will break down and the Americans will get hold -of the markets that cannot easily be loosened. Suppose a dozen British makers are represente4 in New•zealand by a dozen different agents, is a stock of parts to be carried for each make '$ Obviously it must, if the cars are to be kePt on the read. And, yet', there 'is the natural objection to locking'up the necessary -capital to ea.try those stocks. Mr. Clarkson replied to our question on this head by saying that two reforms must be introdueed to oneet the case. In the first place, British makers must be prepared-to standardize their vehicles to a considerable ektent: the second place; agents for different makes must be prepared to interchange stocks of parts. In these ways, a, great deal of the present trouble–could be overcome.

The type Of vehicle that is required in Australia and New Zealand, according to Mr. Clarkson, is the to 2-ton van, whilst the trailer (which is corning into use in the States to anenormous extent) will be of considerable use. With the ininrovement in the roads in Australia the light omnibus is beginning to gain a footing, but it will have a more uphill ''task in New Zealand because water, Tower is so abundant there. Bothin Australia and New Zealand there is an abundance of good coal, and a careful watch is being kept on -all that we, in this country, are doing in the way of home production of fuel. The uses and possibilities oftar oils, benzole -and coal-gas are

therefore being closely studied.the reopening of trade after tile. war, Mr. larkson asserts that the motor movement out there will go ahead by leaps and bounds.

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Locations: Wellington

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