VALUE OF PETROL

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 22, 26 January 1940, Page 9

VALUE OF PETROL

WARTIME REGULATIONS

MUST BE OBEYED

The importance Of petrol in wartime was stressed by the Crown Prosecutor (Mr. W.H. Cunningham) in the Magistrate's Court today, when several cases of breaches of the oil fuel regulations came before Mr. A. M. Goulding* S.M. "Petrol is an important item in wartime, and under the regulations the whole of the petrol remains at the'.dis-. pcsal of the Oil Fuel Controller," said Mr. Cunningham.^ "Although it is in the pump, 't is still at the disposal of the Oil Fuel Controller, if he likes to step in and commandeer it, and a person has no right to dispose of that petrol except strictly in accordance with 'the regulations. This system of over-issuin3 on licences and issuing after licences have expired is only one method that has come to light of evading the restrictions. The responsibility is on both the vender and purchaser." Burke Brothers, Ltd., admitted five charges of breaches of the regulations with regard to selling petrol, and Toop and Neilson, Ltd., admitted five charges with regard to purchases of petrol. The two sets of charges were, said Mr. Cunningham, the two legs of the transaction.

Toop and Neilson, Ltd., were convicted and fined £2 on one charge and £1 on the remaining charges. Burke Bros.. Ltd., were convicted and fined £1 in respect of each charge. Mr C Evans Srott appeared for Toop i and Neilson, Ltd., and Mr. A. L. Hollings for Burke Bros., Ltd. "ACT OF CARELESSNESS." I "This is a case which is an illustration of how a company can be held liable for what is practically an act of carelessness on the part of a commercial traveller in its employ, and oi which act the company was, at the time, totally unaware," said Mr. Evans Scott. As soon as the breach was pointed out, said counsel, the secretary of the company went immediately to the Department and volunteered the information as to what had happened, handed in the expifed licence, and filed an application for a new licence. The secretary told the officer that he presumed the excess gallonage on the expired licence would be' deducted from the renewed licence. Actually this was not done. Counsel submitted that the matter- was not a serious one of its kind. The Courts must support the' Government in the important regulations, said the Magistrate, who added that the question of conserving supplies of petrol was important, and might well become more important still. - . • Mr. Hollings, on behalf of Burse Bros., Ltd., the suppliers of the petrol sqid that they were in much the same position as Toop and Neilson, _ Ltd. When the regulations came in Burke Bros who were in a fairly large way of business, were under the impression that the 22 gallons on the traveller s licence expired at the end of the month, as was the case with private cars, and not the month from the date the licence was granted. It was their duty to see that they did not issue petrol except in accordance with the law, said Mr. Cunmng-

haHataitai .Service Station, Limited, waifned £i; oh' each; of y oursimilar charges. - -