Oil allegation ‘ridiculous’

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33434, 16 January 1974, Page 1

Oil allegation ‘ridiculous’

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, January 15.

An oil industry spokesman in Wellington today replied to a statement by the Minister of Transport (Sir Basil Arthur) that an oil company had been deliberately misleading farmers about Government restrictions on farmers’ fuel supplies.

The spokesman said that it was difficult to understand how Sir Basil Arthur could single out one company as misleading farmers.

“The fact is that all companies are acting under a direction from the Ministry of Energy Resources, which requires the oil industry to ensure that within the limits of the fuel it has available to distribute, the legitimate (b”.t not unlimited) needs of the farming sector are met. “Certainly the Ministry’s directive is difficult to define in any given place or any given time. But to the best of their ability all companies are trying to carry out the intent of the Government’s advice in such a way as to ensure continuing supplies under difficult circumstances.”

‘RIDICULOUS, CONFUSING’

The member of Parliament for Clutha (Mr J, B. Gordon), a former Minister of Transport, has called Sir Basil Arthur’s allegation “ridiculous and confusing.” He said today that the Minister’s statement took the farmers’ fuel issue “from the sublime to the ridiculous.”

“After personal complaints to the Minister, I discovered that the Government had directed the oil companies to allocate farmers an equivalent amount of diesel to that which they had used in the same month a year ago,” said Mr Gordon.

“This was later changed to a quarterly allocation. I now have constituent farmers who are unable to obtain any more diesel until April or May under this Government edict.”

Further requests to Sir Basil Arthur for clarification had brought advice that farmers requiring additional or extraordinary allocations should apply to the Ministry of Energy Resources or the Department of Trade and Industry.

"Ironically, the only case I know of at the moment where an extra allocation has been granted has come from representations to the Ministry’ of Agriculture and Fisheries,” he said.