AUSTRALIA'S OIL WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19470, 28 October 1926, Page 7

AUSTRALIA'S OIL WAR.

I NEW DUTIES AND PRICES. THE GOVERNMENT'S REFINERIES. CHALLENGE TO THE COMPANIES* [FROM OUR OWN' CORRESPONDENT.] SYDNEY. Oct. 22. ' A few months ago the Federal Government announced that to pay for its road construction policy it intended to bring in additional duties of 2d pc-r gallon on petrol and on imported chasis, to return in all £2,000,000 a year, for ten years. The announcement took the trade by surprise for the duties were imposed the morning that the announcement appeared in the m'orning newspapers. Ilia Government's decision angered the importing companies, which are chiefly subsidiaries of the big American and Dutch companies, and wordy warfare ensued between the Prime Minister, Mr. Bruce, and the principals of the companies in Australia, while directors of the American companies also issued statements on the other side of the Pacific. The matter was brought to a head last week, when after many threats to do so, tho companies advised retailers that their prices would be advanced by l£d per gallon as from Monday last. This angered the Acting-Prime Minister, Dr. Earlo Page, who, in the absence of his chief at the Imperial Conference in London, took up the cudgels on behalf of Australian petrol-users. One of the chief complaints made by the companies was that'' the additional duties bad been imposed, not so much to pay for road construction, but to make the Commonwealth Oil Refineries a payable proposition. The Commonwealth Oil Refineries : are a concern in which the Commonwealth Government and the Anglo-Per-I sian Oil Company are practically equal partners, and which import crude oil and refine it in this country. Ministers otherwise opposed to State trading excused this venture on the ground oi" its necessity from the defence point of view. Dr. Page declared a continuance of the " oil war " last week-end by indicating that as a result of the foreign ojl companies increasing their prices, tho Government intended to use the machinery of the Commonwealth Oil Refineries to import refined oil and enter into active competition with such companies as the Vacuum and British Imperial, in addi- ' tion to continuing the old policy of refining imported crude oil. The Government, he said, was satisfied that bulk petrol could be landed in Australia duty paid on the existing scale and profitably retailed to consumers at a price no greater than that which obtained for imported spirits at the time the roads tax was imposed. When the additional tax was brought , into effect, Dr. Page recalled, the companies had said that they were not going to raise their prices in consequence, but that the tax would prevent them reducing prices. Yet without further warning they had increased them. If the magnitude of these companies was to be used to exploit the Australian public, the Government was prepared to take steps to make Australians independent of these companies. It seems as if the oil war is on. The companies, although they have so far made no answer through the press to Dr. Page's > challenge, are known to be consolidating their position, while the Commonwealth Oil Refineries are preparing to widen their operations. If the result is cheaper petrol prices, the thousand and one users of oil will be cheerful persons, unless, of course, the refineries' operations result in huge losses that must j be halved by the taxpayers. FOREIGN OIL COMBINES. 1 ; INFLUENCE TO BE FOUGHT. A. and N.Z. SYDNEY. Oct. 27. 1 Speaking at the opening of the annual [ conference of the Country Press Associa- . tion, the Acting Prime Minister, Dr. Earlo ! Page, dealt with the transport question. 1 He said the progress of road locomotion , in Australia was being hampered by the i operations of foreign oil combines. Ho i charged the latter with " bleeding Aus- • trslia white " both in times of peace and ; 0 f W ar and with endeavouring to dictate | a policy of development to the country, i Tho progress of road locomotion had ■ been handicapped by the large toll taken 1 by foreign oil combines from the Common-- | wealth. The Government had decided that i this unnecessary handicap should not be i allowed to continue indefinitely. It was ' prepared to fight this foreign dictation of ) policv and exploitation to a finish. Although these combines had captured f the Legislatures in many of the other 1 countries in which they operated they I would not be able to work their will in i Australia, which would not allow them to ' take the savings which a national plan of 1 transport would enable Australia to make.