NEED ADMITTED

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21226, 24 September 1940, Page 7

NEED ADMITTED

PETROL RATIONING EXTENT IN QUESTION OPINION OF FEDERATION (By Telegraph.—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Monday Repeating the statement that the present rationing of motor fuel was hampering industry in New Zealand, the president of the New Zealand Motor Trade Federation, Mr C. R. Edmond, said today that the motor trade still considered that the ration for the Dominion could be increased by 1,000,000 gallons a month without any serious effect on the exchange or tanker position. He was replying to the statement made by the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, on Friday. Mr Edmond emphasised that the employees and employers in the motor industry took second place to none in their loyalty to the Empire and its cause, and added that the federation had not at any time questioned the rightness of the policy of rationing petrol. Nor, he said, had the federation ever doubted that this policy of conservation of petrol had been followed at the request of the United Kingdom Government. “On the other hand,” said Mr Edmond, “our understanding is that the United Kingdom Government has never at any time defined the extent to which rationing should be imposed in New Zealand. It is just at this point that the opinion of the Motor Trade Federation diverges from the policy of the New Zealand Government. Difference In Basis “The federation is of opinion that the monthly ration should be based on 7,000,000 gallons, whereas the Government is basing its policy on an allowance of 6,000,000 gallons a month.” After referring to the stock position and the Government’s decision to have a greater reserve, Mr Edmond said the federation knew that the reserve storage position would be satisfactory at a very early date, and it trusted that the Government would then implement its promise to restore the cut which was imposed on July 1. The federation also suggested that, when the ration position was reviewed, the federation, as representing the whole of the industry, including the workers, should be brought into consultation. “We feel sure,” Mr Edmond said, “that a rationing scheme could be made operative in New Zealand which would have the dual effect of keeping the motor industry going and giving the maximum help to the war effort of the United Kingdom.”