THE PETROL TROUBLE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7, 6 May 1912, Page 4

THE PETROL TROUBLE.

According to the “Dominion” inquiries made at the Wellington office of the Vacuum Oil Company go to show that there is no prospect of the petrol Shortage being relieved in the near future. The steamer Hohenfels will arrive shortly, and will land petrol at Lyttelton and Sydney but the quantify on board will not fully meet the demand. According to present indications, it would be some time in July before the large shipments in the steamers Anglo-Saxon and Dunclutha would be available. The reasons for the present shortage were that the chartered vessels had been delayed, and the demand ,for petrol had been extraordinary for this season of the year. Instead of sales falling off after January, as they usually did, they had kept up, and as much was sent out in March as in January. '1 he company had not taken advantage of the situation to increase its prices, but had parted'with its whole stock at the ordinary trade price. Buyers we not allowed to take all they asked for, but the available stock was parcelled up as reasonably as was possible. The shortage at present was unique in character, as it involved shortages in ■substitutes as well as in ordinary motor spirit. On previous occasions that shortage in petrol had always been balanced by stocks of substitute fluids which could bo used with efficiency. One cheering aspect, however, is the statement of the Vacuum Oil Company’s manager that their price for benzine is still Is s|d per gallon.