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THE MOTOR HABIT.
Great Fleet of Official Cars.
USED FOR JOY RIDES AND
PICNICS.
I.oxurious -motor cars seem to have be
en: a" inseparable adjunct to official mag-
mficencj. In fact, eren the most obeenre
clfloal of an unimportant sub-department
has come to feci that he is considerably
biadirappcd in the transaction of public
busn«E unless he has the use cif a motor
cir paid for and maintained by a grate-'
ful country. Why this should he so, it is
difficult to understand, but it is beyond all
question that the enhanced importance lent
bv war-time conditions to manor dignitorics
-Ins had a frre.it. deal to do with the growth
oi die motor evil, which has become a
pis'tive scandal. It is not alone the Com
monwealth and State departments which
<reat fault. The habit has extended to all
sections of the public service, and to-day
the evil has grown to such an extent that'
crery public body has a fleet oE motor cars
vhich iu nine cases out of ten, are not re-
quired for public purposes.
In a great many instances, the cars be
longing to public concerns and uiuiiitained
»t tbc laxpayons' expense suffer far more
year and tear out of ollicial hours then
thf.v do when business is actually being
transact eel. The principal use for the ma-
jjiiiv of the cars is to convey Ministers
and oliieialj between their homes and their
duos, and to the places where they lunch
or dine. But probably tlic most scandal
ous feature of the whole business is the use
of the cars for joy rides In itbe country.
Whenever a Minister goes away holidaying
after lus arduous office duties he must take
with him an official motor car, ostensibly
to bumc htm to cany on his work during
his lteence from head quarters. More often
than not, however, Pile automobile is to he
seen careering about the country consuming
bilge quant, ties of petrol and serving no
other purpose than to give the relatives and
friends of the Minister a thoroughly good
time without cost to themselves. No .Minis
ter j wife would fee) happy unless she could
. do her shopping, pay -her social calls and
tale her children home from' the pictures
io a costly Government ./iraousinc. Only
recently several instances have earne to
light where Ministers who have been holi
daying at the seaside have had Government
cars continually at their disposal. A week
or so ago two-' .Common wealth Ministers
had to attend a function 250 miles' from
Jfelbourue. -All the rest of the. I'arliaincnt-
ary party-tin veiled by train, l-'or .Ministers,
': however, trains are rnuoli too plebian. They
teiore made the trip lroin Melbourne in
motor ears frum the Coinnionvveallh gar
age, and left the public to pay the cosl of
the petrol and the wages of the chauffeurs.
M the liabi-t is not by any means con-
M to Government departments. Other
jahlie bodies urc every, bit as bad. It is
i generally known fact, for instance, that
the cars owucd by the -Melbourne and
Metropolitan Board of Works have been
used on more than one occasion for picnics
to the picturesque watershed areas and for
fhoothig expeditions to the 'farm at Wei-ri-
bcc. There was, of course, a pretence made
that the trips were purely official in
character, but in the light of experience
u one is foolish enough to believe that
Ik exigencies of public business f'u-
nislied tfiie sole reason, for these
fa lints. One notable example of the
sort of thing -that is .going ' on was'
made public early last year, whan five cars
belonging to Uic Metropolitan Board of
llorka made an extended vidit to . the
aalerched areas around Rcalosville, carrv-
ing lourteen passengers, of whom six were
ladies. The hoard lias sought to justify
) his , extraordinary procedure by explaining
that those participating iu these delight.-,,
lit they arc not so fortunate as to be mem-
jeers of. the board, pay thoir proportion
? Mi1' We", tlie proportion of cost.
M it be calculated by . a friendly host; will
:J» , wc aiay be sure, be excessive. It lis
likely to be a cheap trip. The guests
'«M u . tT,ratly diK,PPO'nted if it were
Pi i- v \ " "o1, Pillt- Why
thotilo the Metropolitan Board undertake
ttieec Cooks excursion functaous at all
hy should a public board, entrusted with
important public functions, devote itself to
running favored persona over personally
conducted lours, whirl, involve a large out-
1-ty not only on chickens and champagne,
and ugais .md other pleasant eoiicoiiii-
t0 " htaikhy opon-uir excursion
covering some days, but ulso on the main
tenance of a tie t of motor cars far iu ex-
beard' binary requirements of the
Suae the great uuihurst' of public in-
digiut-ou at the giowi.it of the evil a year
r so ago, Ministers and official., have
Shown considerable ingenuity in clouding
he whole husmcss in a luizo of secrecy- ft
S thus impossible to secure any official
documents winch will show preaisely how
munj aim are owned by the different Go
vernments uid other public bbuieu, and
ho« much their upkeep costs. As a fur
ther measure to prevent the public gain-
tag all accurate knowledge of the facta the
ihtboiities concerned have removed from
-he IJ1» any ilistitiguiahiiig mark whieb
the Wl,0thcT thay » owned by
Nut lone aruC'!h r 'l pnvat0, individual.
Dicnt'i r, i g'miiiiioii wealth Govern
ments cars the letters "< A " for
fe'"aca 01 Aui!tralis, while the
-tdu't'hj.-.no" 'mirk, h£.'
bihircsi ri'tlvpC1Tl|1)?g'U|Ull|lc feat,lre f the
ml" Jy 1,01,1 Ministers and offi-
.aCCth- Grernmenl now
- vhcre eight e-iS &u " Bl'uils'ick-strefit,
ment are housed for I?'"'' 1'® Govern-
"o?.alth deputnl!'1' T) f thG
I employment ot at lea»t eioh? t5 ?reUn3 e
I Esther with a ' , W ohnuffeiirs, to-.
i ""<1 'he cavt is ve - f"1 0f- Ptothanics,
i rimge ia eatily reCom J fl|Vy "w®"!- The
! Uh«y years an r«S 8 'e> as lfc was for
! f Who have p--ed 'p'T s00'-
Raze at the hminr Ifc. have paused to
'here. Some idea of ili»llii ar'! Pllrkod
hiaj lie obtained from timT i- iilYhet cvl1
85 m 1918-19 Ho- Zm J i f3Ut lhat where-
: mates for the nn him esti-
i jnd the pavmen't of ,',ce of ®ars
i jhvera attached to tiio P Wagar ol tlle
i jkpartioeiit w-ia yinm "j"16 "nstor's
1 1919-20 wag th?oef i tf!e V1>t® I"
jhi" l't-ime' Minister's dih f""petl '""lev
huie denirtmsni pilrt,n®n'> the De-
« 4,'TS rft/V""' b> «®
. pJG Assistant itdster. ojio bv
hj'lfl snd one bv the Stat "nlitury
htlc one is hcld in ,-c .'e 0o"llnandant,
J1 will he remembered lult L 1" a 8,Pare car.
k'oi Defen fnator Pe. i1 ttlc Minis"
" h"® England in 1919 t,e |,roni .a""u hack
a tranBnm.f - i . roujli j, with hjni
j-ostrng at least £150n4'1'Bu,t\|1Ko111? R®y®e,
." fitment is "rannv " Tf ,ti Pefence de-
« pubh'e nin L ? not ''ghtly let
km k-ar soumthiim mi M Mi ?1' w:cret«. and
J»8 the cost of unkeen of r kariird reKard-
Jmousine,' it tnrefullv 1wL= !i AI|ni«terial
wire on it®i m«iw the exnendi-
head of "iiieideniai'.fejy' f''0. Kneral
mliat is annii-r, 1Kl'ty ®aRh, Bv
have b.o 5,; ,|,,ndyedrhf' hovveve.
? 'he estimates "rl el st?o„- ?i i,e ,K?eLin
"le sum set down f.lr- .i ,,at. "J 'hough
motor car !bv the iw P'trehasc of a
1019-20 was £550 thl , o!,(fi 'tnPartment in
'hm itciu was £9j(i mi expenditure on
mates of the ro"?hont the esti-
?»8 also fidsmn,re?lA
'Towards nurehe 'otf0M«m hi this,
ffdeval Torntmy kmtor.,„car,
motor car. NorH ' 'purchase
f2t0, . a„d 0_ , rth®rn Territory,
m 'lie recent pureha'se <rf »n a,g#m 'here
jjjuipmcnt for Mr. F b£m 0t?r C3r and
m» a -glorified tour thrnniic'n' ? w ®lak-
18:11111 at the nuhlie gh Central Aus-
thtchasa' ran tSe Comen8e , Th'a h
fent into £H70 AnH r caIth Glovern-
Vrhs Comm ttoe wbil C,0Ur6e the P"bTc
Jf '""h at pros Deriil? " «?ln8' to have
. the dcKs ,' ro,lt«
Cslltr fo1 lbe iwpose two!
«h!!s?srsssitjfja-ji
wcaltlj. It haa three ivsular cars, but
there i a!sr> a heavy expenditure, ou motor
hire, which ia oareftilly buried in ollicial
records. The City Council lias iit lea .iu two '
regular cars, amongst which ia the new
Sunbeam, purchased i'or at least £ 1500. de
signed exclusively for the of the lx»rd
Alayor sud the Town Clerk "on oflieiul
biiflin€»s." Aa the maintenance, including
the driver's salary, was csiim«atcd at I'faO
a year, it is safe to say that the actual
oost will be considerably more. But that is
not all. The last business sheet of the City
Council straws an expenditure of no Jean
tluiQ £42 during February alone in hiring
cars for various committees and for "cere
monials." Another grave pffender is the
Metropolitan Board of Works, which . al
ready owns five "fords," and has" recently
decided to purchase a French Chenard
Walcker car for £1030. This decision was
arrived at m the lace of a previous resolu
tion carried by the board to use only Fords.
Apparently, however, a Ford is much be
neath the dignity of such important per
sonages. Kven the Fire Brigade and Har
bor Trust have cars which have been seen
a«fc places where there did not seem to be
much official business, to transact. In ail
these matters one must not forg'-t that the
price of petrol has advanced by 130 per
cent, and chauffeurs' wages by more than
!?50 per crti, since the outbreak of war,
whilst other costs have similarly increased.
j\ popular mer.noa auoptcu y «ome
public men of meeting charges of extrava
gance and demands for the reduction of
public expenditure is to suggest that critics
should point to one single item where there
could be retrenchment. Here then is an op
portunity for such people to show their
sincerity. The cost of unnecessary Govern
ment motor cars has mounted to an alarm
ing extent. .Frantically the whole of the
automobiles owned by the various depart
ments could be dispensed with without
any hampering effect on public busiiiciM.
Already thje indulgence of the motor habit
is taking 'thousands of pounds out of the,
pockets of the people. The time lias come
when there uhould be art irresistible public,
demand for the curtailment f expenditure
in Mils direction. Unless something is done
to curb the' waste and prevent the self-
aggrandisement of Ministers and other
public servants in this way tlyi burden
will become even greater than it is now.
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