Right Of Appeal On Petrol Price

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30768, 4 June 1965, Page 1

Right Of Appeal On Petrol Price

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, June 3. Independent authorities should be set up to determine the price of petrol and provide a right of appeal against any decision, said Mr K. E. Blashki, North Island president of the New Zealand Service Station Proprietors* Federation, today.

He said the fixing of the retail and wholesale prices automatically fixed the retailers’ margin, although how this was determined was not clear. The prices were fixed in secret. The 4600 licensed petrol resellers throughout New Zealand received 4d a gallon for petrol yet the cost of selling it was probably close to sd.

Two years ago, he said, the cost of selling was between 4d and 4jd a gallon and costs had risen since.

The Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Marshall) appeared to think retailers should subsidise petrol sales with profits from workshops, rental cars and spares. “All we seek is a reasonable profit over and above our costs," said Mr Blashki. “Surely that is not too much to ask for.” The wholesalers’ margin on motor spirits had never been divulged by either the oil companies or the Government, he said. However, the federation considered it was about 8d a gallon, the equivalent of a 70 per cent mark-up. Mr Blashki said the federation would go ahead with its plan to petition Parliament for a review and amendment of legislation governing the price of petrol this session. All other methods to correct the situation, he said, including an appeal to the Ombudsman, had failed. The federation’s efforts had been bogged down by procrastination and bureaucracy at its worst.