PETROL RESTRICTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24792, 17 December 1941, Page 8

PETROL RESTRICTION

POWER BOARD AFFECTED REDUCTION CONSIDERED UNFAIR " Consumers, at least in the northern area, cannot expect immediate attention to minor break-downs," said the chairman of the Otago Electric Power Board. Mr T. A. Louis, when it .was reported at tke monthly 'meeting yesterday that the petrol allowance for the northern area had been reduced by 50 per cent. Members asked what would be the position of farmers milking large herds if their machines were Stopped through soir.e break-down in the service and the board's men were unable, for lack of petrol, to go out to effect repairs. The chairman said that, if there was no petrol, the men could not go out to deal with such cases. The secretary, Mr-L. W. Potter, explained that it had been announced in the press that local bodies* allowances were being reduced by onethird. It had come as a surprise when he had been advised by the official in charge of the northern area that his licence had been cut by half. He had had no advice on the subject of allocations for other board employees. A resolution was adopted that, while the board wished to co-operate with the Oil Fuel Controller, it considered that the reduction reported by. the officer in charge of the northern atoa was unfair, and that the board should not have been treated differently from other local bodies.