PRICE OF PETROL

Evening Post, Volume C, Issue 86, 8 October 1920, Page 7

PRICE OF PETROL

MB. WILFORD'S EXPERIMENT

The high price" of petrol was referred to in the House of Representatives yea"ferday by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. T. M. Wilford). Hie American oil, said Mr. Wilford, was selling in Wellington at 35s a week ago, and was now quoted at 37s 6d, and'it had been stated on behalf of one of the firms that 40s would not be too high a. figure to ask per case. Did the Minister-in-Charga .of. the Board of Trade think that that high price was justified? When thq question was previously raised by him' in the House, said Mr. Wilford, the merchants themselves had answered him in the papers. He now desired to call thfl attention of members to the price. o£ twenty cases of gasoline which he had landed in New Zealand. This consignment had been purchased through at friend. It was not a, wholesale transaction subjected to trade discounts, but for cash at thirty days, and he held tha receipt now in his hand.

"Landed in New Zealand?' asked a member.

Mr..Wilford: "Yes." He had just got a friend to buy it lor him in Saß Francisco.

A member: "What exchange?" Mr. Wilford: "The ordinary rato.'* The steamer freight was £4 10s 9d, and) the cost of the oil was £17 19s 7d, or, with the freight added, in round figures, £22 10s. With primage, wharfage, and Customs the cost was

A member: "Are you reckoning thi exchange?" Mr. Wilford: "Yes."

The member: "What is it?"

Mr. Wilford replied that the actual cost of the twenty cases, in New Zealandl money, with everything paid, was £23, or 23s per case. He wanted to know what the Board of Trade was doing, and! how long was it going to stand that sort) of thing.

Interruptions followed, several members calling out at once. The Hon. C. J. Parr: "Ask Kirn f«B his statements."

The Minister-in-Cha-rge of the Board of Trade replied that there was nothing to prevent anyone doing the same a* Mr. Wilford—importing from America if they so desiraft.

Mr Isitt: "The small man cannot d« it."

Mr. Lee: "The Board of Trade awl not importers of gasoline."

A member: "Why aren't they?" The Minister said that there might be circumstances connected with this small transaction which were exceptional. The hon. gentleman had brought the matter on without giving him an opportunity of going into it with him. Ho would have to inquire into it.