A tyre story.

An insight into life and motoring in Trinidad during WW2

By Wayne Abraham

We all know what a tyre is. They are everywhere: on our cars, vans and trucks, on airplanes, lawn mowers, and a variety of other vehicles.

Scottish-born, John Boyd Dunlop, patented a pneumatic tyre in 1888 for use on bicycles and light vehicles. His patent was rejected in 1892, partly because he was not the inventor. This did not deter Dunlop from developing the pneumatic rubber tyre to the early predecessor of the ones we know today, and from participating in the formation of various rubber and tyre companies bearing his surname. Dunlop Tyres were manufactured at a factory in Point Fortin Trinidad for a while, but that's far ahead of my story.

The first car to appear on the streets of Port of Spain in 1900 was an 1899 model, steam-powered, Locomobile. It was not long after that gasoline-fueled; internal-combustion engine cars became more popular than steam or electric cars. The popularity of cars grew steadily from their introduction in the early 20th century.

Oil was discovered in commercial quantities in Point Fortin around 1908, and then Tabaquite a few years later. Shortly after, refineries were set up in both districts and gasoline for cars, and pitch oil (a misnomer for low-grade kerosene) for lamps and stoves was produced.

As the first three decades of the 20th century went by, cars became more popular in Trinidad, though road construction lagged behind. Trinidad’s working-class rode bicycles, while higher income individuals opted for motor cars.

The fortunes of Trinidad’s sugar and cocoa industries have been up and down throughout the nation’s history, but by the 1930s cacao was king. These two industries were the bedrock of colonial Trinidad's economy. By the 1940s, the peak of the cocoa boom was already gone, but Trinidad was now the largest oil-producer in the British Empire with a large refinery at Pointe a Pierre and a smaller one at Point Fortin, both with docking facilities for large ocean-going tankers.

By the turn of the 20th century railways were the chief mean of transportation. Cane railways were developed initially, to haul harvested sugar-cane to the factories in the Naparimas and East Trinidad. Trinidad Government Railway came into existence 1876, and was moving freight to and from Port of Spain to east Trinidad early that year, until the ceremonial opening of the passenger service to Arima on August 30th 1876, during the Santa Rosa Festival. The railway transported almost all the cocoa beans for export from the countryside to Port of Spain.

Railway development continued steadily for the next three decades, until the Trinidad Government Railways reached a peak of 150 km of lines by 1913. Sugar cane railways exceeded this length in South Trinidad alone, and possibly doubled it, if lines in central and east Trinidad we taken into account.

With the increasing popularity of cars and trucks before the 1940s, the railway lost passenger and freight business to cars, buses, and lorries.

On September 1st 1939, Germany invaded Poland and WW2 began.

Modern enthusiasts spend small fortunes on wide low-profile tyres and shiny rims for their cars. Take a trip back in time to 1940s Trinidad and you'll discover that large white-walls were in style but in that era, but tyres were more utilitarian and had become very scarce by 1944 due to shortages brought on by three years of war in Europe and the Far East.

Tyre technology was only just past its infancy in the 1940s, and although modern tyres are still essentially a mixture of natural rubber, synthetic rubber, carbon black, fabric and other compounds for vulcanization, tyre manufacturing technology was not what it is today. They wore out quickly, and were more susceptible to punctures. All tyres at the time were cross-ply, which offered excellent grip but wore down much faster than modern radials as a result of greater friction with the road.

Most of the world's natural rubber came from South East Asia, and still does today. Those territories were occupied by Japan (an axis nation) in early 1942. Trinidad and Guyana produced minute quantities of rubber. India was main source of natural rubber within the British Empire and Brazil, with an emerging rubber industry, had become an ally during the war.

The effects of the World War 2 on shipping resulted in shortages of food, manufactured goods, and machinery. Automobile manufacture for civilian use was placed on hold as car plants in Europe and the US retooled for producing planes, weapons, tanks and other military vehicles. Food rationing was in force in all affected countries. Being a colony, the local authorities submitted projection to the colonial government who then decided what will be supplied, be it food, machinery clothes or tyres.

War time manufacturing consumed most of the world’s supply of rubber for aircraft, vehicles, apparel and armaments.

As time passed, Trinidad began feeling the effects of the war. Prior to its direct involvement, the United States was already negotiating with the colonial authorities to set up military bases in Trinidad; then on December 7th 1941, Japan attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Under the Destroyers for Bases agreement between England and the USA of 1940, the USA hurried to complete military bases in the West Indies, Newfoundland and Guyana, as part of their Atlantic defense strategy.

The bases in Trinidad were together the largest of all the construction projects undertaken, with a Naval Air Station and submarine facilities at Chaguaramas, an army base with an airfield at Cumuto (later named Fort Read and Wallerfield respectively), air bases at Edinburgh, Chaguanas (Carlsen Field and Xeres), Couva (Camden Field) and a number of emergency landing strips spread over the country.

The Americans bought equipment with them, in quantities and proportions never seen before in this country; including their own locomotives, earth-moving equipment, trucks, cars and jeeps, and aircraft.

On June 5 1942, the Government requisitioned all tyres and inner tubes, except for those being used on vehicles and one spare. All other tyres had to be surrendered, and owners were paid compensation based on their condition and market prices prior to the date of the order. All vehicle owners had to register tyres, which were then assigned serial numbers. Failure to turn in or register them could lead to criminal charges and confiscation of unauthorized spares.

When tyres wore out, owners began abandoning cars in the street.

The Trinidad Guardian
May 13th 1944

POLICE TO RID THE STREETS OF TYRELESS CARS

Measures to deal with persons abandoning cars on city streets are being taken by the police and the Port of Spain City Council are studying what steps to take to deal with the nuisance caused by such persons.

The "Trinidad Guardian" understands that the Thursday afternoon meeting of the Port of Spain City Council's General Purposes committee, Mr Murchinson Ruby, the deputy Town Clerk, gave an opinion as to what steps the Corporation could take to rid the city of this nuisance which, in the majority of cases, is caused by person abandoning tyreless cars on the streets.

Animal-drawn carriages (which were on the way out in Port of Spain by the 1940s), reappeared in greater numbers on the streets of the capital and Trinidadian turned to the railway for transportation.

With WW2 in full swing and German U-boat devastation of enemy merchant shipping in the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea, there was a shortage of parts to maintain the railways and the Trinidad Electricity Board's Port of Spain Tramway.

The number of serviceable locomotives at Trinidad Government Railways dwindled up to mid 1944. This happened at a time when the public used the railway more and more as parts to maintain motor cars became scarce. So great was the demand for passenger trains at peak hours that commuters rode on the footboards and the roof of carriages.

The situation was worsened by hoards of construction workers who used the railways to reach the Cumuto site of the new American air base. The Cumuto Railway Station was often the scene of chaos as workmen jostled one another to catch trains back to the city. Disgruntled commuters stoned trains between Cumuto and Port of Spain.

Since the 1930s the central Government and the Port of Spain City Council embarked on several schemes to rid the city of slums. This, plus a greater demand for accommodation in Port of Spain, brought on by the war, resulted in many working class people residing on the outskirts of the city. Bicycles became a more popular transport alternative to over-crowed trains and irregular bus services.

To deal with the transportation crisis the Government established the Transport Emergency Board, in 1943. All driving was regulated and any deviation from the new wartime regulations required authorization from the board. Among them were limitations on how and when private owners can use their vehicles.

After March, 1st 1944, zoning regulations came into effect. Private cars were restricted to zones designated by County. This regulation was already in force for goods vehicles since the previous year. Oil company vehicles were exempted, since they sourced their own tyres from abroad. The activities of route taxis were strictly controlled.

Owners could not sell or transfer vehicles without the permission of the Emergency Transport Board. A speeding conviction could result in the car owners being disqualified from buying tryes. Laws were in place to requisition private vehicles for military use if necessary. It is noteworthy that bicycle tyres were also governed by strict regulations.

The Trinidad Guardian of 1944 related many incidents of person falling afoul of the regulations:

May 6th 1944
COURT ORDERS SEIZURE OF TYRES
From a Guardian correspondent
Chaguanas, May 5th

Mr Bouri Ramkesson, presiding at the Chaguanas Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, ordered two tryes owned by Anand Mohammed of Freeport to be forfeited and fined him $10.00 with an alternative of 21 days in jail for refusing to send the Tyres to the Transport Emergency Board.

June 17th, 1944
CAR OWNER FINED FOR WEDDING TRIP.
Trinidad Guardian correspondent
Chaguanas May 15th

Caught by Lance Corporal Munroe carrying wedding guest in his vehicle, Mohammed Khan from Warrenville was ordered by K. L Gordon in the magistrate's court here to pay a $50.00 fine or serve two months for using his tyres for a purpose not authorized by the Transport Emergency Board and $10.00 or seven days for using his vehicle on road not prescribed by the board. David Ragbirsingh of the same district was fined $25.00 or six weeks for using his vehicle on roads other than those prescribed.

May 26th, 1944
$480.00 FINE FOR UNAUTHORISED USE OF VEHICLES

Unauthorized use of their vehicle brought two city motorist, John Achan and Sylvester Bonas, fines of $480.00 each and a warning from the magistrate Mr B.W. Celestain that repetition of the offence would lead to forfeiture of the vehicles.

Granted permits to acquire their vehicles for specified purposes, the two men, it was stated, put them to other use than those authorized. Instead of using his truck to carry foodstuff, Ancham was found with a load of sand, while Bonas, a commission agent, used his motor car to teach persons how to drive..........

When your car tyres wore out you had to first get permission to buy replacements from the Transport Emergency Board or have them recapped by a Government-authorized dealer. Consequently, there was a lucrative black-market for tyres and inner tubes.

From August 1st, 1944 you had to produce your old bicycle tyre or inner-tube to buy a new one. The bicycle owner was caught in a quagmire of confusing Government regulation, bicycle thieves, expensive tyres, and black market rip-offs.

The Trinidad Guardian
June 13th, 1944
CYCYLIST ALLEGES $4.00 CHARGED FOR CYCLE TUBES

The Editor, "Trinidad Guardian"

I would like to appeal to the authorities to do something to ease the position of thousands of cyclist in a similar position as myself. I am employed on a Southern Oilfield. I own a cycle licensed for the current year. For the past five months, I have been unable to use this cycle for want of an inner-tube. I have tried every lawful means without success. I did as much as write to the Control Board asking if inner tubes still come into the island.

This was more than four weeks ago and I have not got a reply. I have concluded that this information may be a secret useful to the enemy, or that cycle tubes did not come into the island with the knowledge of the board.

About a week ago, I saw a man with a new tube. He told me it cost him $3.00. He had to get it through a friend. I hate the "black market" but I pay 24 cents a day for conveyance to work, so I gave the man $3.00 plus one shilling for expenses. Two days later he told me that the lot was finished, but in a few days, they expected some more. These would, however, cost $4.00. If I wanted one I would have to give him $1.00 more and let him reserve one for me.

I am indignant and feel that I can do something violent, but the fellow who got the tube already would not tell me who his friend is, so I continue to pay the bus and hope the war will soon be over.

Mr Ken
San Fernando.

The Transport Emergency Board hoped that recapping, introduced in South Trinidad in the early 40s, would alleviate the tyre shortage by rethreading worn cases. They discovered that most used tyres brought in for processing were in such poor condition that they could not be used. The solution was still perused and more recapping material and machinery was imported.

The authorities even scavenged for serviceable tyres:

The Trinidad Guardian, August 13th, 1944

During the course of the past few days the Carenage Police have found three usable tyres. On Thursday last a Marathon Motor car tyre with a wheel attached size 700x20 and bearing the serial number C13736 was found at Craig Island, while on Sunday a John Bull motorcar tyre with white wheel attached size 550x16 serial number E62691 registration number 787272=800602 was found on the Western Main Road. The other, also picked up on the Western Main Road was a Dunlop Heavy Duty Type size 650x20, serial number effaced, registration number 5189-1.

The end of the war in Europe came on Sunday, 8th May, 1945 followed by Japan's surrender to the United States on 15th August, 1945, which effectively ended the Pacific War. Trinidadians were eager for things to return to normal but perhaps too soon, as taxi drivers staged a half-mile long procession of 200 cars in protests against tyre regulation just one week after the American victory over Japan.

Rather than stopping abruptly, rationing and other wartime restrictions seemed to have faded with time. WW2 left England bankrupt and wartime restriction continued until the mid 50s.Food rationing in England ended in 1955.

Politician, Albert Gomes, in his autobiography “Through a Maze of Colour” (Page 134), made this observation about Trinidad:

In 1950 the war had been over some five years or more, yet to all intent and purpose, the commercial interest behaves as if D-Day had never been. Indeed the seemed agreeable that the costly apparatus of controls should be maintained indefinitely. A view with which all those involved in the vast bureaucracy necessary to its maintenance concurred.

Practices from wartime days continued until people forgot their purpose or origin, like groceries remaining closed on a Monday afternoon and the government’s “negative list” of items banned from import.

With the exception of Chaguaramas, the Americans abandoned all other bases by 1957, which they left a decade later. Trinidad benefited from wartime improvements to the North Coast Road, construction of the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway, and a partially rehabilitated railway.

Britain’s post war manufacturing focused on exports and its colonies were captive markets. Consequently, by the mid 50s most new cars in Trinidad were British-made riding on British-made tyres