PETROL PRICE ANOMOLY.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 February 1933, Page 2

PETROL PRICE ANOMOLY.

(To the Editor.)

Sir—New Plymouth .is notorious among the travelling public for the high cost of benzine at the town’s petrol stations, and it is difficult to understand, for instance, why petrol should be cheaper at such’ an out-of-the-way place as Awakino than it is at. New Plymouth.

New Plymouth claims to bo one of the main distributing ports, and from the point of view of the petrol companies must surely be on an equal footing with Wellington and Auckland, for overseas tankers arrive here periodically. Yet the prices in Auckland and Wellington are Is lOd a gallon for second grade and Is lid for first grade. Still more surprising is the fact that Hastings prices are the same as those of Auckland and Wellington. But there is no distribution port at Hastings. ‘ The petrol ha« to be taken to the second class port of Napier by coastal tanker and then conveyed 13 miles to Hastings either by roll or by road. Yet petrol Is 3d a gallon cheaper in Hastings than It hi In New Plymouth, a main distributing portl Curiously enough, the petrol sold at Awakino i is, I believe, conveyed from New Plymouth by road, which must involve a fairly heavy expense; and tire 59 miles of road pass through hilly country. However, petrol apparently loses in price en route instead of gaining, and is sold for Id a gallon less than at New Plymouth. If the petrol for Awakino is sent down from Auckland, there is even more reason to wonder at the comparatively large price discrepancy when compared with New Plymouth. There must be some reason for the high New Plymouth price, and I invite an explanation through your columns from some petrol station proprietor or oil company • representative. In the absence of any such explanation the public will doubtless draw its own conclusions. I am, etc., ONE OF THE MANY. New Plymouth, January 3L