PETROL CONFISCATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 222, 19 September 1929, Page 31

PETROL CONFISCATION.

CHRISTCHURCH FIRM'S LOSS. ADMISSIONS BY INSPECTOR. TIGHT PACKING HELPED FIREMEN, (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, Wednesday. The South Island Trading Company had 23,500 cases of petrol on its premises when the fire occurred in July. It was licensed to store only 11,000. Its loss above the insurances was £4000 or £5000, and in addition petrol valued at £750 has been confiscated, by order of the Court. Giving evidence in the Magistrate's Court to-day, when the company was prosecuted, Leslie Hardie, chief inspector, admitted that if an application for the storage ofl! extra petrol had been made it would probably have been granted. Most of the excess petrol arrived two or three days before the fire, and the diffieulty was that three shipments of petrol arrived at Lyttelton for the company at the same time. The company had strictly complied with the regulations. In answering further questions put to him by Mr. A. T. Donnelly, for the company, the chief inspector admitted that the authorities learned some valuable lessons from the fire. If the petrol had been stacked in with the regulations and in the quantity allowed the disaster wcmld have been greater. The tightness of the packing enabled the firemen to get control of the fire. Not Known to Management. Mr. Donnelly asked that the magistrate use his discretion as to the confiscation of the petrol. The fact that the over-storage was so great was not known to the management and if it had been Mr. Hardie would have been notified to see what could be done. , -Mr. Hardie . said that his instructions from the council were very definite in that he must ask for the confiscation of the petrol. •' The magistrate, Mr. H. P. Lawry, S.M., said that in view of the exceptionally excessive quantity of petrol stored t e Court could inflict a fine of £100 on each charge. It was dear that the company had suffered a; considerable loss, but it was the duty of the Court to protect the public and to see that a penalty was imposed. He considered that it was a proper course to confiscate the petrol and to inflict a fine of id' in each case. The question as to whether the petrol would be refunded to the company was a matter for the Minis er of Internal Affairs.