PETROL RATIONING

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21364, 7 March 1941, Page 6

PETROL RATIONING

COMPARISONS MADE SACRIFICES IN DOMINION (By Telegraph.—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Thursday “Petrol is the only commodity in i daily use in New Zealand that is ! subject to rationed control,” says a | statement issued by the New Zea- : land Motor Trade Federation. “ The amount of the ration is substantially less than that allowed in Australia. There is no rationing scheme foi petrol in Canada, South Africa or India. “The ration in England today is on the basis of 200 miles a month, and in the case of cars higher than 20 horse-power, the basic ration gives a maximum of 10 gallons a month. In New Zealand today eight horse-power cars receive a basic ration of five gallons a month, 10 horse-power cars gallons, 15 horsepower and over 10 gallons. So it ; can be fairly stated that our ration i is comparable with the ration allowed * private motorists in England. | “The New Zealand ration includes 1 an additional coupon which has been | allowed for the months of March and i April. When the Minister of Supply, : the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, announced ; on February 28 the petrol ration for March and April, he made an appeal to motorists not to use petrol coupons if they could avoid it. The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, followed this up with a similar appeal during his recent visit to Auckland. Now we find that the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom, Sir Harry Batterbee, made a further appeal when opening the Taranaki show. Emphasis on Patrol “Under these circumstances the Motor Trade Federation feels called upon to ask why such emphasis should be placed on restricting the use of petrol as compared with many other commodities in New Zealand which are less essential than petrol to i the economic life of the Domini an. “The total value of imports of merchandise into New Zealand for the 12 months ended December, 1940, as stated in the January issue of the Abstract of Statistics, was £48,997, 669, New Zealand currency. Of this amount petrol absorbed only £2,145,047. This means that the cost of petrol absorbed only little more than 4 per cent of the total money New Zealand spent on the importation of merch&rrsiise during last year. “The motor industry is being called upon to make tremendous sacrifices. I The importation of new cars is pro- | hibited, and if the industry is to conI tinue it can only do so by the present j vehicles in New Zealand being given a reasonable opportunity of being j kept on the road. The industry is ! also making a large contribution toi ward the manufacture of munitions in New Zealand.

“We feel too much emphasis is being placed on the question of restricting the use of petrol, particularly when it is general knowledge that there are ample .supplies of petrol in the world, and the cost of supplies is not increasing overseas. The Motor Trade Federation is of the opinion that adequate arrangements can be made to sustain at all times a reasonable stock of petrol in New Zealand. Admittedly, such arrangements must at all times be subject to any major international problem, but we only legislate within the knowledge available from time to time.”