CARRIERS COMPLAIN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 6 August 1941, Page 7

CARRIERS COMPLAIN

cl ADJUSTMENT OF I’ETROL LICENSES OBJECTION TO LACK OF WARNING Complaints that the withdrawal of all records of licenses from petrol " stations and the adjustment of own '' cvs’ licenses had been carried out with ' insufficient notice, resulting in disor 11 vanisation of their business, were made esterday by some carrying firms in Wellington. Instances were quoted when motor-trucks had to stand idle for half a day while licenses were be- - mg adjusted at the ofiice of the Oil - Fuel Controller, and it was stated that 1 had the authorities given more warn - ing to the public, arrangements for ii sufficient petrol to carry them over the - standby period could have been made cl by carriers. In answer to these complaints, th' n District Oil Fuel Controller for Wei r lington said yesterday afternoon that y in order to reduce the consumption of y petrol as from the earliest possible mo - ment, it was necessary to begin amendd ing licenses immediately. The proprietor of one carrying busic ness said that two out of his six trucks s were held up yesterday morning ; through lack of petrol, and when he s applied for an adjustment of his license o at the office of the Oil Fuel Controller, s he had been kept waiting an hour ana - a quarter. He had been told that some n licensees had to wait all morning while s their licenses were adjusted, during it which time their carrying business had c been at a standstill. e Another carrier said that when he e asked at the office yesterday morning :l how long it would take for his license _ to be adjusted. he was told that it n might be a matter of hours, or not till the afternoon. He then asked how he i- could procure petrol to enable him to _ carry on in the meantime, and the reply ,] was that ‘"that was his lookout. He ,fi would just have to wait till the record a of licenses from the petrol station _ came in.” Being in business with only d one truck, his activities were cut off (, till the record of licenses was handed 0 hi at the office of the Oil Fuel Con- () , troller. and his license was adjusted. r Had he had more warning about the intention of the authorities, he could have arranged to have a sufficient supc[ ply of petrol to carry him over the r i waiting period. A third carrier expressed the view that the action of the authorities was c | as bad as an impressment scheme. Had _ they said “To-morrow night records of ) 1 licenses will be collected,” they would j] have given "carriers an opportunity of arranging supplies to carry them overthe waiting period. The announcea ment had come without any warning .g j whatsoever. FUEL CONTROLLER’S REPLY e “It is recognised that by withdrawn ing the cards at short notice some ini’ convenience would necessarily be exd perienced by certain motor vehicle e owners," said Mr Fellow, when the d complaints were referred to him. “But - with a view to reducing the consumpd tion as from the earliest possible moc ment. it was necessary to begin amende ing licenses without delay. Intimas tion was given in last night’s newsn paper that the cards had been with - l. drawn and that licensees would be ree quired to present their licenses for 5. amendment before they could obtain further supplies. “Generally speaking, there was no undue delay in dealing with these applications, though it must be admitted that in some instances licensees had to wait some time before it was possible to effect the necessary amendments to their licenses. This was due in some > cases to unavoidable delay in receiving e oil-fuel cards from vendors. The amendment of licenses is necessarily a n large undertaking and the best possible e arrangements were made with a view •• to obviating delay. 0 “It can confidently be stated that ! ; the vast majority of licensees have acg cepted the position in a most generous manner and very few complaints were *. made.” About 2000 licenses were amended i yesterday, added Mr Pellow, and about the same number had been handed in for amendment last night, for posting back to licensees this morning.