PROFITS ON PETROL

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 45, 21 August 1931, Page 8

PROFITS ON PETROL

"NOT SO GREAT AS MADE OUT"

COMPARISON WITH ENGLAND

The assertion that the profits on' thi sale of petrol in New-Zealand were not as big as were made out to be vumidt by the Postmaster-General (the 'Hob* J. B. Donald) in the House of Repr* sentatives to-day. : . . ■ . . • ",'.•'. He stated that it baa been contended ' that the Government, could mak« £2,000,000 by importing petrol direct* but an analysis of the figures did not support this contention. The whole* sale prico of petrol in England to-daj) i was Is 2Jd, while the price in New Zea» ' land was Is 7* a. Last yea* 68,000,004.: gallons were imported into th© Do*': minion, and the quality of. the petrol: was higher than it was in England. la! | fact, the first-grade petrol, used-in* Nenj Zealand was of the same grade as that j used for aviation purposes in America*; In New Zealand there was a duty o^ j 6.3d per gallon and in England 6d-pe<( gallon. This.meant that the differenca in price between the two countries was j just over 4sd per gallon, and on thi* basis the New Zealand Government i could not hope to make, any more tha»! & 1,250,000. When one took into con* | sideration other factors; such as th« | greater distribution cost in New Zea*. land,-the much larger number of faeili*! ties fyhich had .to be provided fojjj motorists owing to the scattered*nature of th country, and the consequent, greater loss in evaporation, the position; was not as favourable as it mi mads i to be. He held no brief for the petrol; companies, but wished, to place th*i facts of the position before the Houbv