Petrol Seller Fined £75 For Breach of Regulations

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 180, 31 July 1941, Page 5

Petrol Seller Fined £75 For Breach of Regulations

Per Press Association. HAWERA, July 30. Fines totalling £75 were imposed on Edward Kirkby, a Haw-era petrol reseller, when ho pleaded guilty at the Haw era Court to three breaches of tho Oil Fuel Emergency Regulations. In February ho sold 258 gallons without authority, in March 304 gallons, and in April 175 gallons. He elected to be dealt with summarily and on each charge was fined £25, one month being allowed in which to pay. The police stated that a check of Kirkby’s returns showed that in September and November 1940, he oversold by 391 gallons, but could be charged only with the three later offences. Kirkby \s cards showed that license holders had always drawn the full aomunt allowed under license and also 25 persons had had overdrawn their allowances. A number of these people had kept records of their petrol purchases and it was discovered that Kirkby had altered their amounts to cover up unauthorised sales. He admitted that in five months he made 100 such alterations to cover up. He also had to put in fictitious license numbers. The alterations amounted to forgeries and the offences committed were looked upon as serious. “A breach of these regulations is always a serious matter and in imposing the penalties T have to consider their deterrent effect," said Mr. Salmon, S.M. “In the three charges I must take into account the number of gallons involved, over 700. It has been said that defendant broke the regulations at tho solicitation of customers but I say that if customers behave in that way they display a poor public spirit." George Zinsl was fined £5 on each of two charges of obtan ng petrol without authority from Kirkby.