PETROL PRICES.
A RISE REFUSED. 'AUSTRALIAN <fc N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION] SYDNEY, Sep.'9. Much interest has been aroused by the case of the petroleum companies, who have just failed to get a permit to raise prices. Dealing with one application made to the Necessary Commodities Commission by the Vacuum Oil Company, for increases in selling prices, Justice Edmunds (chairman of the commission) said that when the application, was previously before the Commission he was then of opinion and lie was still of the opinion, that the Commission had been grossly deceived by the applicants. His duty was to stand between the community and a profiteering Company. It was no less so now than it was before. The Judge then quoted from the report of the Inter-State Commission
the evidence of a Director of the
Vacuum Company, alleging that its profits for the latter half of the “year 1915 were less than ever they had been,” whereas the report showed that for the year ended on November, 1915, they had made profits much greater than during any preceding year. Counsel for the applicants submitted that as : Justice Edmunds had confessed himself as not having an impartial mind on the matter, he should not sit on the Commission while the application was being heard. Justice Edmunds replied that, while holding pronounced views, he was quite capable of weighing evidence judicially. To run'away from his duty, he said, which duty was to stand between the public and a Company which had' been found, by an experienced and patiently enquiring tribunal, to be guilty of profiteering, would be cowardice. Counsel for the applicants stated that his clients were quite prepared for a full enquiry before an impartial tribunal, but he had advised them not to appear before the Commission.
The Vaeumni Company thereupon left the Court. The Commission also dealt with and refused an application by the Texas Oil Company of Australia to be allowed to make an increase of Is per case in the selling price of kerosene and benzino -
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Hokitika Guardian, 10 September 1919, Page 1
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336PETROL PRICES. Hokitika Guardian, 10 September 1919, Page 1
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