Govt depts confident fuel cuts made

Press, 3 July 1979, Page 6

Govt depts confident fuel cuts made

Government departments are confident that fuel-con-servation measures are achieving at least the 10 per cent savings that have been asked of them. Few departments in Christchurch could provide figures yesterday of the savings but the Public Service Garage claimed a cut of 1151 per cent in motor spirits for May. The savings for June are expected to be similar. The Ministry of Works, the Railways Department, the Post Office (which administers the Public Ser-! vice Garage), and the Electricity Division have ail attempted to save at least 10: per cent. ■There are a lot of people prepared to criticise us, but we are as conscious as anyone else of the need to conserve fuel.” the Acting Post-master-General (Mr A. McKenzie) said. The measures have not meant any reduction in services, except for the railways, where a directive from Wellihgton asked that light freight trains be cancelled and cargo be shifted] to bigger, later runs. I

st However, the freight-for-.'warding ban by railway t ’ workers has delayed these s 'measures. r I ‘‘At present we are saving 1 1 thousands of litres of fuel,” (the assistant traffic manager r (Mr M. S. Taylor) said ! 'yesterday. The department had also “'been asked to re-examine ‘ | timetables, although no ' routes were expected to be r jcut. The use of trucks was "'to be.reduced wherever posIsible. ’! “We are very expense- • conscious: we do not like to ’jsee money going down the •'drain,” Mr Taylor said. •| N.Z.R. Road Services was ■' rationalising its routes and 'ithe use of its buses, said the district manager (Mr R. S. - MacKenziek The division ‘‘had set itself a target of 30 ■ per cent savings m diesel. - consumption for the next 121 ■ months, and would replace: ■ diesel vehicles -with petrol- j powered vehicles where pos-j •I “There is a limit to how! ■.much we can do. though, be-i 5 cause petrol is a good deal I 'dearer than diesei,” Mr j.MacKenzie said. I I Rationalisation of refutes I

would mean better position- ' ing of buses, less duplication iof routes and the introduction of circuit routes ,to reduce the number of ’ buses used. Mr MacKenzie said it would take some time to effect any changes, as users i had to be told first of the changes and the reasons for them. Passengers would not be affected by any change, he said. The Electricity Division of the Ministry of Energy set . “great importance” by the call for 10 per cent savings in fuel, said the district manager (Mr G. B. Collie). However, pooling of vehicles had never proved practical in the past, and there were limits to how much pooling could be done 'now. “We have reorganised crur- [ selves properly to economise (maintenance and inspection [operations.” Mr Collie said. I The Ministry of Works [was adhering to measures [that were aimed at 10 per [cent savings, the district (civil engineer (Mr M. R. Lancaster) said. “To the best of my knowi ledge we are achieving Ithat,” he said.