A SPIRIT MONOPOLY,

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2154, 1 April 1908, Page 1

A SPIRIT MONOPOLY,

THE HOCTvE.FEIrL.ER TB(JST

MOTORISTS IN DISTRESS,

CPor Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, March 31, Motorists in Christchurch, and probably in the Dominion generally, have a serious causo for complaint in the severe shortage _of .petrol at present existing. Several owners ,of ears in Christchurch who.do not keen a .plentiful supply of “spirit” on hand have found the shortage very inconvenient, and at least ouo man who drove in from a country station during tile past week would have been stuck up but for the assistance of friends. A dpaler in the city told a Star renorter that his firm could not get any petrol at all at present and some motorists whisper another’s offer of a pound a case. • • . . , • The explanation of the position given by a dealer is that the market in New Zealand is at present absolutely controlled by the 'Rockfeller Trust, the Standard Oil Company, whose New Zealand agents afe s the Colonial Oil Company. The Trust, he said, has been limitingAhe'-supply to the colony in order to keep' up the price, and the demand has' a outrim the supply. The Trust, haying xan absolute monopoly of; the market, at present, can do wlfat sit likeSSMiijthat way. “0U is being handledvlike’diamonds,” lie said. “If all the diamonds were put on the market today they would bo worth about Oil .each; it is only by doling them out that the price can be held up, and it is the same with petrol at present.” The reporter was hold there is little to threaten the supremacy of the Trust in the New Zealand market. He thought immediate necessities would, however, be relieved at any time now, because shipments were on the water. Most- cars were able to get along well enough on benzine. Arrangements are on foot, it'is understood, for a combination to compete with the Rockfeller Trust in the motor spirit market. The /Baku, Siberian, Sumatra, and Borneo oils are available, and a large British oil firm is negotiating for a combination with other firms, to make an effort to break the monopoly, so as to.be able to put snirit on the m irket at the same price as the Standard Oil’s. A new spirit, benzol, is. now being .put on the market, and. came successfully through a test made on the Brooklyn track by S. F. Edge in a Napier car. As an instance of the working of the Standard Oil monopoly, it lias been stated that regardless of freight and other charges, the prices of the motor oils are. quite 50 ,per cent higher in New Zealand than they are in Great Britain. Considerable use lias been made of cheap alcohol on the Continent for motor purposes, but apparently its use in New Zealand, if it has been used at all, lias been too limited to have come under special notice. Alcohol has, however, been recognised as a possible serious competitor’ to the light petroleum oils.,