AVIATION PETROL BAN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 209, 2 August 1940, Page 7

AVIATION PETROL BAN.

BRITISH STOCKS HIGH. AMPLE SUPPLIES AVAILABLE. LONDON, Aug. 1. The Daily Telegraph says that the American ban on the export of aviation petrol outside the Western Hemisphere will not seriously affect Britain. In the first eight months of the war America exported 800,060. barrels ol which Britain took , slightly below 300,000 The petroleum expert, Dr. Oscar Tokayer, said that the British stocks were very high and the quantity of aviation petrol at present being consumed was comparatively small. Stocks were, available for many months.

All the British requirements were easily obtainable from the Dutch Vest Indies, which was now a British sphere of influence, Dr. Tokayer said. A refinery for high-grade petrol was also being constructed in the Dutch East Indies. These supplies were payable in sterling, causing less strain oil the Treasurv than payments in dollars. . The Telegraph says that Germany, is handicapped by her limited quantity of high-grade fuel, the shortage of which is responsible for the German fighters, failing to attain their claimed 'meeds. The ban, it states, affects ~ipan, liecause she is almost entirely dependent on American supplies. Little comment so far has been made in London on the ban (states the British Official Wireless) as it is considered In official circles that such a step would he in accordance with America’s latest policy of building up reserves of the most important commodities in case of an emergency. JAPANESE PEEVED.

In Tokio the navy’s spokesman (Admiral Okuma), commenting on President Roosevelt’s ban on the sale ot aviation gasoline, said: “Irrespective of the pretext, there is no doubt it represents an anti-Japanese move designed to bring economic pressure to bear on Japan, thus constituting an unfriendly act. IT the United States continues on such lines it is certain to cause international repercussions, although the United States may have fully considered them.” Asked whether the ban might not be aimed a.t Italy and Germany he replied: “President Roosevelt probably intended to kill two birds with one stone. It will not affect Japan s military operations.”