Petrol Outlook May Become More Difficult

Northern Advocate, 23 August 1945, Page 2

Petrol Outlook May Become More Difficult

(Special) WELLINGTON, This Day "The Government has been advised recently that the petrol supply position may become more difficult in the immediate future, due to the heavy European requirements for motor transport to replace the dislocated railways,” said the Minister for Supply (Hon. D. G. Sullivan) in the House of Representatives yesterday. However, he added that he did not expect that New Zealand would be asked to revert to the original allocation. Mr. Sullivan said he could not give an assurance that the small licenses of four gallons a month and under, which had recently been cancelled, would be restored, although he was sympathetic to the request. The Minister _ also discussed the future tyre position and announced that holders of continuous special petrol licences prior to July 31 might still have tyres retreaded on making application to a retreader or authorised dealer in the usual way. The only alteration in the procedure was that it had been necessary to devise a method of obtaining corroboration‘that the applicant had held a continuous licence prior to that date.

Reply By Minister The subject of tyres was raised when a written reply from the Minister to a question asked by Mr. H. J. D. Acland (Opposition—Temuka) and Mr. W. S. Goosman (Opposition —Waikato) was circulated. They had asked if the Minister would grant to previous holders of special licences right of having tyres retreaded, or, alternatively, of reinstating these special licences. Referring to the written reply by the Minister, Mr. Acland said that the position was still unsatisfactory. Motorists, particularly those in the country, had had to prove their essentiality before licences had been granted, but now their small fourgallon licences had been cancelled, while those on bigger allocations had been left untouched. Mr. Sullivan said that the conditions under < which petrol allocations had been increased had been the outcome of considerable discussions since V-E Day and the cancellation of those licences had been one of the conditions imposed by the overseas authorities handling the supplies for the United Nations. Mr. W. Sullivan (Opposition—Bay of Plenty) suggested that the cancellations must have been a local matter. The Minister replied that the overseas authorities had stipulated that 50 per cent of the licences would have to be sacrificed to compensate for the increase in coupon values. “Why were some of those on the higher licences not sacrificed?” asked Mr. Acland.

Rubber Prospects The Minister said that New Zealand had been asked to comply with the conditions in spite of her representations. The Government had been advised recently that the petrol supply position might become more difficult in the immediate future. The European demand operated similarly in regard to tyres. ,» He had seen a statement i-ecently that it was unlikely that there would be a substantial improvement in the rubber position for a year or' 13 months, but a more recent statement had expressed American hopes of a considerable improvement during the year. He could not reconcile the two statements, but the latter came from a very good source and was one on which a good deal of reliance could be placed. Mr. A. J.. Murdoch (Opposition—■ Marsden) said he took it that the Minister must be guided by some committee controlling petrol supplies and he suggested that the allocation by licences should be rearranged. The Minister could restore the petrol li • cences and then distribute the remaining petrol pro rata among all the- motorists in New Zealand. He also urged the distribution of tyres from stores held for war purposes.