No extreme petrol rush

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33962, 1 October 1975, Page 1

No extreme petrol rush

Christchurch service stations yesterday reported a significant increase in the number of motorists having cans filled with petrol in anticipation of possible rationing. Most motorists were also making an effort to keep their car tanks full in case rationing is introduced at short notice.

Service station proprietors are not happy at the prospect of rationing. The president of the Canterbury branch of the Motor Trades Association (Mr G. McLean) said that service station owners would strongly oppose any move to have them ration petrol. “If there’s going to be rationing, it must be a Government scheme,” he said.

“Service station proprietors will completely oppose any move to have them ration petrol themselves.”

Mr McLean said that it was too early to say how any rationing would affect service stations financially. But affect them it would, and he honed that the Government would take this into account when reviewing the petrol price.

Mr McLean said that rationing would be high on the agenda at the annual conference of the Motor Trades Association in Queenstown next week. Another meeting — the annual conference of the Automobile Associations of New Zealand—will be

held in Queenstown at the end of this week.

Taxi operators would expect complete dispensation from any rationing, the president of the Canterbury branch of the Taxi Proprietors’ Federation (Mr K. Peat) said. Me said that if rationing also applied to taxis it would be ’‘completely disr strous.” Most taxi proprietors were ownerdrivers, and it was un thinkable that the livelihood of these selfemployed neople should be jeopardised.

One worry about rationing is the prospect of a black market in petrol. Some service station owners said yesterday that, if rationing were introduced, a black market would come into existence within 24 hours.

They said that a black market would be less noticeable if rationing included a “white market,” in which motorists could get petrol above their basic allocation by paying a high premium for extra coupons.

They also said that rationing was likely to increase petrol thefts from parked cars.

Footnote: The United States, r.-td Britain have both rejected petrol rationing as administratively wasteful, and difficult. Britain is now getting rid of ration books printed during the 1973 crisis at a cost of £Bm.