PETROL LICENCE REVIEWS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 223, 17 June 1944, Page 6

PETROL LICENCE REVIEWS

No Evidence So Far Of

Misuse STATEMENT DENIED

A statement that the reviews at present being- conducted in connexion with petrol licences had disclosed that many were still being operated on by people who bad sold their cars or who had gone overseas was not borne out. by the facts, said the Oil Fuel Controller, Mr. G. L. Laurenson, yesterday. He was referring to remarks credited to the president of the Automobile Association (Auckland) at, a recent meeting, Mr. F. G. Farrell, who had said: “I understand, it is surprising the disclosures made by the questionnaire sent to petrol licence holders at the instigation of the Government. Mr. Farrell had added that it was being found that licences which had been granted to people who had since sold their motor-cars, or who had gone overseas, were still being operated on. The Government’s aclion was being taken more with a view to checking up on people drawing petrol to which they were not entitled rather than with the idea of cutting licences. .... Mr. Laurenson said that inquiries made from the district controllers at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch had disclosed that the overhaul of commercial car licences had shown so far that there had not been a single case where licences, the need for which had expired, were being drawn on for other purposes. The reviews were not yet finished, Mr. Laurenson said, but many thousands of replies hud already been received from licence holders, and they showed that, to date, there was nothing whatsoever to support .the statement reported in the Press.