NEW RESTRICTIONS ON PETROL

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 102, 24 January 1940, Page 8

NEW RESTRICTIONS ON PETROL

Waste Held Unpatriotic

IMPORTANT DETAILS NOT YET ANNOUNCED

With important details of the manner in which petrol rationing is to be reintroduced at the beginning of February not yet announced, representatives of road-users are chary of commenting yet on the speech of the Minister of Supply, Mr. Sullivan, on Monday night. However, there is a general realization that economy of petrol is an important part of the war effort aud that it is unpatriotic to use it extravagantly. The announcement several days beforehand that restrictions are to be imposed seems, it has been pointed out, to have given an opportunity for the hoarding of petrol in anticipation of the rationing, but those who wished to lay in a stock probably had done so before the Minister’s speech, for it was no secret that supplies were to be cut short again, and even the date had been mentioned freely. Mr. Sullivan implied when he appealed at the conclusion of his address for citizens to assist the Government by abiding by the letter and spirit of the regulations that instances of hoarding had been discovered already. Unwisdom of Hoarding.

Most thoughtful motorists realize that hoarding iietrol is an inconvenient enterprise, and not sensible while they are being given an allowance for pleasure use. A motorist using an average of three gallons a week in addition to his allowance would have to store 75 gallons to maintain that consumption for six months. Drums containing such a quantity would be a conspicuous object in a city garage, rendering the owner liable to prosecution under the by-laws, which in Wellington prohibit the storage of more than three gallons without a permit, as well as being a breach of the Oil Fuel Regulations, which have been iu force ever since the outbreak of war. Then there is the inconvenience and danger of transferring the spirit from a car tank to drums for storage and back to a car tank for use, so that when the small amount of extra iunnins that can be obtained is set against the inconvenience, danger and risk of prosecution, hoarding of petrol is not as attractive in practice as it appears in theory. In any case, when the petrol that has been hoarded before the introduction of the restrictions has been used up bv its owners, probably within a few mouths, hoarding will be limited to the small surplus motorists may have from their monthly rations. It is country people who had the greatest opportunity to store petrol, for while city by-laws restrict the storage of petrol to such a quantity that it is almost negligible from the motorist’s point of view, it has been possible for the owner of more than 10 acres in the country to store up to 250 gallons for private or farm purposes if it is kept according to the Explosives and Dangerous Goods Regulations. However, the Oil Fuel Regulations are still in force to deter unpatriotic people from hoarding even if they live on farms. Few Days for Holidays.

Appreciation has been expressed by car-owners of tlie early official announcement of the rationing because it will enable them to take weekend trips or short holidays that they may haive contemplated taking a little later. When the scheme was in operation previously motorists embarking on holidays were able to obtain 20 gallons in the case of a car under 14 h.p. and 30 gallons in the case of a larger car in addition to their ordinary allowances. Mr. Sullivan made no mention of such allowances being given again, except to say that petrol would be allowed motorists travelling to the Eucharistic Congress and the Waitangi celebrations. An official of an organization interested in this aspect of the subject remarked yesterday that he had been unable to obtain official information on it. , .. A likely effect of the reintroduction of petrol rationing is to bring, to a head the proposal to reduce the hours ot petrol stations. When rationing was previously in force station-owners realized more than ever before that, with their trade reduced, there was still less reason for keeping open as long as they had done. Already hours have been shortened in some districts, and a movement to reduce selling hours generally, but with an arrangement that would allow ears in large centres to be supplied with fuel at all hours, was- gaining momentum when the lifting of the restrictions halted it. Now the sale of petrol will be reduced even more, for whereas previously 10 gallons a month could be supplied to small cars in addition to that obtainable by licence, and L) gallons for large cars, it is now eigllt gallons and 12 gallons.