PRICE OF PETROL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22712, 26 October 1935, Page 14

PRICE OF PETROL

DISCUSSION IN PARLIAMENT EXORBITANT ROFITS ALLEGED (From Oor Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, October 25. Reporting to the House of Representatives to-day on a petition asking that a minimum price be fixed for the sale of motor spirit the Industries and Commerce Committee of the House had no recommendation to make on the ground that the petition dealt with a matter of policy. The petitioner was G. Pratt, of Palmerston North, and eight others, and following the presentation of the committee’s report there was a lengthy debate during which Labour members criticised the Government for failing to make use ofMotor Spirits (Regulation of Prices) Act of 1933, which provides for the fixation of the maximum and minimum prices of petrol. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr M. J. Savage, expressed regret that the committee had gone no further. The Government, he said, had insisted on having special legislation to control the industry, but that was all that had happened. He had a report and balance sheet of the Associated Motorists’ Petrol Company, and this revealed a remarkable degree of prosperity. It showed that on June 11 last the ordinary shareholders of the company had a dividend of 350 per cent, after 10 per cent, had been paid to preference shareholders. A curious thing was that members of the company were the very people who had petitioned for the legislation now on the Statute Book authorising the fixation of petrol prices. It was very clear’ that an injustice was being done, not . only to the users of motor spirit, but also to those who were re-selling it. The major oil companies were getting away with the bulk of the profit. It was time action was taken, and if he had the opportunity he would not hesitate to do so. It w r as time Parliament was the real master of the situation instead of allowing the major oil companies to fleece the public. The Prime Minister, Mr G. W. Forbes, said that the Minister of Industries and Commerce had been using every endeavour to make a working agreement, and from the Governmenrs point of view it was much better to have an amicable arrangement than to step in with compulsory legislation that would require an army of inspectors to administer. When fixing prices one had to contend with the question of turnover. Undoubtedly there were too many bowser pumps in the country, but did the Labour Party suggest some of them should be closed down and hundreds of people thrown out of work? Labour members: We never suggested that. Mr Forbes said it was not possible to have a uniform rate in the cities and at the some time give the man with a small turnover a sufficient living. The Minister of Industries and Commerce was carrying out the policy of the Government by trying to carry on the industry on amicable lines and without resorting to the big stick.