RATIONING OF PETROL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 259, 30 September 1940, Page 6

RATIONING OF PETROL.

lx some parts of the Empire there are no restrictions upon the use of. petrol; in Australia private car owners have a generous allowance ranging from 10 gallons a month for the lowest horse-power vehicle to 23 gallons for those of 30 horse-power or more; in Great Britain—the battlefield of Europe to-day—private motorists are allowed petrol on a slightly better basis than in this Dominion. It is the contention of the motor industry that this inequitable state of affairs cannot be justified by the Government and an ameliorating policy should be accepted. On this point there can be no doubt that the industry has a substantial case for better treatment. The correctness of rationing has never been disputed by its protagonists, but they do claim that the British Government, in requesting it, did not define the extent to which it should be imposed. The Government allows six million gallons a month; the Motor Trade Federation asks for seven million, and it is at this point that the Government and the industry differ. According to the Minister for Industry and Commerce, when addressing the recent Dominion conference of motor trade representatives, when adequate defence stocks have been built up the policy will be reviewed. This, however, is so nebulous as »to convince no one, more especially since the Minister for Finance has publicly stated that there would have been petrol rationing, war or no war. How then can Ministers disentangle this policy from the Government one of building up sterling funds by restricting all kinds of imports, including petrol? The Minister’s reply to the South Island Motor Union on this very matter is a masterpiece in avoiding the issue, and in deciding to take up the matter more vigorously the Motor Unions will have the support of most people. There can be no denial of the fact that while harsh restrictions have been imposed upon private users, those who instituted the policy have not found it necessary to rigidly curtail the use of State cars and vehicles.