SLIGHTLY RELAXED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 79, 13 January 1940, Page 6

SLIGHTLY RELAXED

PETROL CONTROL IN BRITAIN.

TANKER SERVICE MAINTAINED. CREWS’ COURAGE AND TENACITY. lOnited Press Association — Copyright.; LONDON, January 11. . The next issue of petrol ration books for private motor-cars -will cover a period of’ three months from the end of January. Apart from ordinary supplementary allowances which, generally speaking, will be made on the existing basis, there has been-some relaxation of the regulations in respect of large motor-cycles. The extension of the basic rationing period to three months is evidence of the Government’s belief that the existing situation of supplies and stocks is sufficiently satisfactory to justify a longer range policy in petrol rationing. At present, therefore, it is understood that the Government does not contemplate any further early restriction of civilian petrol consumption, though the position will naturally be carefully watched in relation to continued supplies and the essential needs of defence. In this connection British-French economic co-operation is fully effective, and close collaboration between the British and French Governments has been assured by contacts between the Ministers concerned, who 'have established a complete identity of views. The considerable use of private motor-vehicles which the present scale of petrol rationing in Britain permits may be compared with the edict published in Germany on November 1, forbidding the use of motor-cars for private purposes and giving the police the right to halt motorists and question them on the purpose of their journeys. The restrictions here are ■ cheerfully accepted by the British public, which realises that continued supplies on an adequate scale are only available because of.the efficiency of the Royal Navy and the courage and tenacity of tanker crews.

In 1938 Britain had to import 3,000,000,000 gallons of petroleum products, which meant that every day of the year three or four large tankers had to discharge at British ports. The number of tankers now in commission is larger than at the outbreak of war, when the total tonnage was 3,279,000. The total British tanker losses up to January 7 amounted to 08,000 tons, or 2.07 per cent, of the whole, and this deficiency has been more than made good by new building acquisitions and in other ways. The same is true of the French tanker fleet.

The Germans have recently published figures designed to show that British tanker losses are 4.51 per cent, of the total fleet. This is entirely false. They also give the figure for tanker tonnage now under construction in England, with which they doubtless hoped to elicit particulars which it is not in the national interest to publish.

The Germans can draw little consolation from, the true facts, which prove conclusively that German activities have not interfered with normal supplies of petrol and oil to the United Kingdom.—British Official Wireless.