IMPORTED FUEL OIL

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 103, 28 October 1933, Page 9

IMPORTED FUEL OIL

DUTY SOUGHT

TO PROTECT COAL AND CAS

A duty of 50 per cent, on imported fuel oil with the object of protecting the interests of gas companies, and indirectly those of coal owners, and a duty of £2 10s per ton on all imported bitumen and. asphalts, to protect the gas companies' interests in the caso of tar, were sought before tho Tariff Commission yesterday afternoon by Messrs. Belton, engineer of the Christchurch Gas Company, and M. J. Kennedy, general manager of* the Wellington, Gas Company, Ltd. They presented the following representations by tho conference of tho Gas Companies' Association: —(1) That a duty bo imposed on petroleum fuel oils; (2) that a tariff bo imposed on imported bitumen and asphalts; (3) that all gas appliances, including pipes, should bo placed on the same Customs tariff as electric appliances and cables. Mr. Kennedy made the application on account of tho competition of fuel oil with the sale of gas and coke for various heating [purposes. Fuel oil also competed with coal for the heating load, and thus damaged the coal indus-1 try both directly and indirectly. This was stated, he said, in tho report prepared for the Government, which said:' "The/ chief competitor with coke, arid one which has taken considerable business away, is imported fuel oil, which eonics in duty free." UNFAIR EXEMPTIONS. ■' Mr. Kennedy considered that the present exemption of municipal and Stateowned trading concerns from taxation was an ■ unjustifiable differentiation against private trading, socialistic in principle, and detrimental to the in- j tercats of the country as a whoJe. Professor Murphy: What has that to do with the Tariff Commission? it j may be true, but I suggest it is outBide our sphere. i Mr. Kennedy: We wish to show the nature of one of the disadyantages wo are placed under. Professor Murphy: You will see that wo cannot make any recommendation on that, however much we may sympathise. Gas supplied by companies cost the public large sums for income tax alone, ] said Mr. Kennedy. Their- business had suffered, and the amount- of coal they used had been reduced by this extra cost. Either the gas companies should be exempt, as their competitors were, or their competitors should bear the burden of taxation on the same basis. It was high time that a substantial duty was placed on imported fuel oil. Exemptions could be granted by certificate for oil used in ships. The importance of protecting the coal and gas industries from tho excessive competition' of fuel oil had been recognised in England, where .1 duty of 3d per gallon had been imposed amounting to 3r! 1-3 per cent, on the selling price of imported oil. As all cuts attaching to ldcally-producpri furls were higher in New Zealand than in England, a duty oi" 50 per cent, on the present selling. price, or 2Jd per gallon, should be imposed. Bitumen and asphalts, said Mr. Kennedy, were chiefly used as binding materials in road construction, and thus came into competition with coal tar produced in local gasworks. Owing to the powerful organisation of the great oil companies this competition was severe, and the influence of the oil companies had built up a strong prejudice against tar, an unfounded prejudice, as tar made according tn British standards gave satisfaction if used intelligently. If tho same care in applying tar was used as was customary with bitumen, there would be no failures with tar. There were a number of gasworks in New Zealand which supplied tar according to tho British specifications, and there was sufficient plant to distil all the tar required in TCeiv Zealand. At tho present time all the tar produced wns not being used.

B? special arrangement Renter's worlft servlro, in addition to other special, sources of information, is used in the compilation of the orerseas intelligence published in this issue, nnr) all rights therein in Australia anil New Zealand are reserved.