No week-end petrol with earless days

Press, 15 June 1979, Page 3

No week-end petrol with earless days

PA Tauranga The introduction of earless days would not mean an end to the week-end closing of service stations, said the Under-Secretary for Energy (Mr Brill) yesterday. He made the comment after the executive director of the Motor Trade Association (Mr C. F. Stone) expressed hope that service stations could resume normal trading hours if earless days were introduced. Mr Stone said last week that at least 200 service stations throughout New Zealand were now in serious financial trouble as a result of week-end closing. But Mr Brill said the Government had never given any

indication that garages could resume week-end trading if earless days were brought in. The Government still aimed at a 10 per cent reduction in New Zealand’s fuel consumption, but the week-end closing of service stations did not seem to ge achieving that figure consistently. “Carless days would probably need to be introduced to achieve the full 10 per cent consistently,” he said. The earless days had saved between 3 and 6 per cent consumption when introduced in European countries several years ago. Though there was no guarantee the same figure could be reached here, earless days should save a significant amount, Mr Brill said.

“Though the figure of 3 to 6 per cent does not sound much, we have to remember that we aim only at a 10 per cent saving,” he said. Carless days were still likely to be introduced for that reason. They had the advantage that they could be introduced on an on-again. off-again basis when the need arose. A director of the Ministry of Energy, Mr C. J. Ryder, said there had never been any suggestion that service stations would be able to remain open at week-ends if earless days were introduced. “Carless days and other contingency plans we have in preparation would be used only to complement the weekend closing,” he said.