RETAILING OF BENZINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 65, 19 March 1926, Page 6

RETAILING OF BENZINE.

After summarily dismissing the applications for extensions of the kerbside pump system and deciding that those already in existence must go, the City Council has decided to re-open the question. The motor trade stated its case to the council last evening, and its arguments are to be pondered upon for a fortnight before finality is reached. The wisdom of the council's present attitude is undeniable. All the facts should be known and carefully weighed in the light of experience here and elsewhere before an absolute decision is reached. America is the home of the "bowser." and the general attitude towards them there can surely be defined during the discussion. From an aesthetic point of view it may be desirable to prohibit the pumps, certainly it is essential that there be some limitation upon their number and distance apart, but utilitarian principles are also involved, such as the danger to pedestrians by cars twice crossing the footpath when enclosed premises are used, the danger of fire from the filling of benzine tanks from the tins, and the lower cost of the bHilk supply. There is also cogency in the point that overseas companies are likely to reap, and to send out of the Dominion, the profits gained if special service stations are to be maintained. The Wellington City Council decided last night to license the pumpe. Conditions there are similar to those in Auckland, and it is palpable therefore that the matter is worthy of more consideration than it has had so far.