WHY PETROL?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 281, 10 March 1941, Page 5

WHY PETROL?

ning the war, but in doing this all the relevant facts must be taken into x consideration, and sacrifices must be as far as possible shared by all, so as to sustain life in these difficult days. There is no question that the members of the motor industry in New Zealand have proved their willingness to pull their full weight in all matters in relation to the war effort, but we feel that too much emphasis is being placed on the question of restricting the use of petrol, particularly when it is general knowledge that there . are ample supplies of petrol in the world and that the cost of supplies is not increasing overseas, and the Motor Trade Federation is of the opinioir that adequate arrangements can be made to sustain at all times a reasonable stock flof petrol in New Zealand. such arrangements must at all times be subject to any major international problem, which may arise at any time, but we can only legislate within the knowledge available from time to time.

FEDERATION'S STATEMENT | | ONLY COMMODITY RATIONED Petrol is the only commodity in daily use in New Zealand that is subject to rationed control. .The \ amount of *the ration is substantially less than Iliac allowed, in Australia. Even to-day there is no rationing schemc for petrol in South Africa or India. The basic ration in England to-day is on a. mileage basis. of 200 miles per month, according to the horsepower of the car, ( and in the case of cars higher than 20 h.p., the basic ration; gives a maximum of 10 gallons per month. > Position in N.Z. The position in New Zealand today is that 8 h.p. cars receive a basic ration of 5 gallons per month; 10 h.p. cars gallons, and 15h.p. and over, 10 gallons per month;, so it can be fairly stated that our ration to-day is* comparable with the ration allowed to motorists in England. In stating. this;, it must be remembered that the New Zealand ration is stated above includes the additional coupon which has been allowed for the months 4 of March and April. Why the Emphasis When the Minister of Supply announced on 28th February the petrol ration for the months of Miarch. and April, ae made an appear la motorists not to use their petrol coupons if they could possibly avoid it. The Prime Minister followed this up with a similar appeal during his recent visit to Auckland. Now we find that the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in. New Zealand made a further appeal when opening the Taranaki Show. Under these circumstances the New Zealand Motor Trade Federation feels called upon to ask why such emphasis should be placed on restricting the use- .of petrol as compared with many other commodities in New Zealand which are less essential than petrol in the economic life of the Dominion. The total value of imports of merchandise into New Zealand for the 12 months ended December, 1941 the Abstract o? Statistics, was £48.997,669, New Zealand currency. Of this amount,. petrol absorbed onl]/ • £2,145,047. This means that the cost ' of petrol absorbed only a little more than 4 per cent of the total money *. which New Zealand spent on the importation of merchandise during last year. When these figures are considered, it is hard to understand why such emphasis should be placed. on economy in petrol, when other items are completely overlooked. Tremendous Sacrifices The motor industry is being called upon to make tremendous sacrifices, in that the importation of new motor cars is entirely prohib- J ited, and if the industry is to con- * tinue then it can only do so by the present vehicles in New Zealand . being .given a reasonable opportunity of being kept on the road. Ths industry is also making a big contribution towards the manufacture of munitions in New Zealand and it is essential for the. national safety. { of the Dominion motor trade be kept at' a%i|h|;- sta*e of g efficiency, because of tfe specialised jj mechanical nature of all activities v-; in association with the Army and* < the Air Force. It can be said without fear of contradiction that the ■{ motor industry is one of the most important industries in New Zea-». land to-day. both in relation to its peace-time activities and] to its es-. sential war-time service. In the English "Motor" of 6th Novem|jej&l94j» there is a leading "London motorists asked "tfi. *li their cars to help public trfui^port.'* This article deals with a scheme announced by the Ministry of / Transport in England which was devised with the object of bringing, more private cars on the road to augment public passenger services, and in discussing this scheme the, following statement is made " . . « . It disposes once and for all of ther» bogey that to use a private car ine=wartime is unpatriotic."

Pulling Their Weight Iji ir The New Zealand Motbr Trade' * ■ * Federation agrees absolutely with» . - the Prime Minister, the Minister, of Suppjy and the High Commissioner . . for the in their... statements that the first tion in every question to-day mus£ he the contribution , towards (Continued at foot previous column! V.^