Minister Explains Why N.Z. Has Low Octane Petrol

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 50, 7 February 1949, Page 4

Minister Explains Why N.Z. Has Low Octane Petrol

The continued low octane rating of petrol available to New Zealand motorists is due, not to any arbitrary fixation by the Government, but to a world supply shortage in combination with the need to spend dollars in any projected purchase of lead. , If petrol were to be of “super” grade, there would be less of it. In stating this recently, the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Nordmeyer) said that an increase in the rating had been considered for some time, but in answer to inquiries all five of the oil companies operating in the country had replied that such an increase was not practicable at the present time. The Minister made his statement in reference to an Auckland report which stated that new motor car engines gave a disappointing performance compared with old ones be cause of “the low octane rating of petrol, which is Government fixed.” There was no foundation for the statement that ample quantities of tetra-ethyl lead, or benzol, were in storage in New Zealand, and that companies would readily improve the anti-knock quality if they were permitted to do so. Of the five companies consulted, not one was in favour of increasing the octane rating, he'’said. One of the major problems facing suppliers, said Mr Nordmeyer, was the lead content of the benzol necessary to increase the octane rating of petrol. Lead had to be paid for in dollars. There was a limit to dollar funds available for petrol, so that if the lead had to be paid for as well the quantity of petrol imported must drop.