BENZINE PRICES.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLII, Issue 1735, 10 February 1921, Page 2

BENZINE PRICES.

TWO SIDES OF A QUESTIONS A correspondent' submits two questions to us which ho states are disturbing many local users of benzine. The cabled price of benzine, he says, is 8/8 per case, add freight 5/9, railage 3/, incidentals 9d, exchange 2/10, total 21/. Why is the present Yew Zealand price 42/? Doeo the pr - posed embargo on oils embrace benzine, which in some parts is included in the general term? If so, what happens to our machinery? These questions were submitted to a local garage proprietor by a ‘Times’ reporter yesterday. The motor man pointed out a few details which had evidently been overlooked by our correspondent. “In his estimate,” he said, “he .has made no provision for leakage, which is enormous, owing to the very faulty packing nowadays. Then there is the question of interest on capital invested —a very big factor at the present rates, especially when it is remembered that the order may be in for many months in America before the benzine arrives here. Another incidental your correspondent has overlooked is handling charges, which come to a very large sum on a big shipment. Benzine may be obtainable in America at 8/8 per case, but would it be of a quality to stand the Beaume test? I very much doubt it. There is plenty of benzine of a certain quality to be picked up in America, but it is of such a poor variety that wef could not find a sale for it out here. I believe the embargo on oils includes benzine, but the question of what happens to our machinery is too general for me to give a direct answer.”