PETROL SUPPLIES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 142, 16 May 1940, Page 8

PETROL SUPPLIES.

NEED FOR CONSERVATION. HUGE WAR CONSUMPTION. WELLINGTON, May 16. The need to-uay tor tlie conservation of petrol, which tie said was jar greater than when the rationing schema was introuueed, was emphasised by the Minister or Supply (Hon. D. G. Sullivan), last evening. He appealed to all to do their best to reduce their consumption of oil fuel. “The war in Norway and the great battle that is now waging in Belgium and on the French frontier have enormously increased the demand on Allied petrol resources,” said Mr Sullivau. “They will have a very close bearing on the iuture petrol position in New Zealand.

“An Allied mechanised army has had to be moved a considerable distance at high speed. Tens of thousands of mechanised units, including large numbers of fifteen-ton tanks, have been in action. Upwards of a thousand Allied ’planes at a time have been in the air since the invasion of Belgium and Holland. Some of these ’planes consume as much as 200 gallons an hour. The demand on Allied petroleum resources has also been enormously increased by the heavy fuel-oil requirements of the British and French fleets. “While our soldiers, our sailors, and our airmen are fighting a desperate battle, we cannot allow their supplies of precious oil-fuel to be prejudiced by waste of petrol. The need that existed when rationing was introduced is very much more serious now. It is up to all of us, by every means in our power, to reduce our consumption of oil fuel. Motorists can help by conserving petrol,” concluded the Minister. “and I ask everyone to do his best.”