PUBLIC OPINION

Taranaki Daily News, 5 August 1937, Page 9

PUBLIC OPINION

G. H. P. FITZGERALD.

YIEWS ON CURRENT TOPIGS PRICE OF PETROL IN TARANAKL ABSURDITY OF PRESFNT BASIS.: 1 (To- the Editor.) ^ Sir, — Qn various oocasions during- the'? past few mdnths you have reported" the *f remarks made at meetings pf automojjile j associations and, other organisations cori- .. cerning the . ..prices charged for petrol in ; - Taranaki. ■ •' * •' The position is "that these prices are . higher than in any other district with ' pori facilities for receiving. oversea ship- . , ments and, as far as I can discover, the landing, handling and distributirig ; charges at, the pori of New -Plymouth. are no higher than at other ports arid: i probably lower.- than the charges for ji? petrol landed at . Miramar, 'some- miles ' ? from Wellington city.: - t . The aver'age extra charge on the Taranaki farming industry and on other iri-' j dustries and private car owners is ' between 2d and 3d per gallon for an estimated district consumptiori of "petrpf, of . _ 7,500,000 gailons, which gives "a "minimum additional charge of £60,000; . Taranaki 1 motorists have .. paid this ' additional amount for years always hoping thatcompetition between importers would : bring the prioe to the level of other districts within reach of oversea receiving '' dejiots. ' " : The i»sition is now greatly chariged as petrol prices have been fixed for various parts of New Zealand and' for' •' Taranaki the high prices have" been recognised by the Government. -If we-a-ccept this the possibility . of obtaining equal treatment with Wellington 'and Auckland will be lost. The only excuse the Government makes for gazettirigi these high prices is that they are maxi^f' mum prices and the petrol imx>orteis are free to reduce them provided the 3d margin for resellers is maintained. But we do not want any official recognition • at the present high price level. Petrol, con-sumers were. not' apprpached by1 the: Government and when .the- auiomobiiie , . associations requesfed ari interview with the Minister the request was refused. ; . There is . one oversea receiving depo't at New Plymouth - importing approxi- : mately one-third of the petrol iisecl Uri" the province .and yet the. price. in Tara- ' naki is based, roughly, on Wellirigton. cost plus railage. But many absurd minor details have been included in the price fixatiori iri addition to this major, absurdity. The petrol, landed ;£rom: oversea at New' Plymouth, costs more: atStratford and Eltham than at Hawera^,, There are/distributinfe depots at Hawera, *«. Stratford and New Plymouth. The petrol^ distributed from Stratford costs ?more in ; that town * tiian at Ne'w ;Plymorith or ::- Hawera. •' ' • "2' All importers but one rail petrol from ? Wellington, and yet prices jump up arid down like a. J ack-in-the-box between , Patea and New P-Vmouth. Is it that .the v revenue of the port of New'Plymriuth ; and the petrol .users of Taranaki, are ' being sacrificed because the present; system gives great revenue to the l^al- j' way Department?— I. ani.'etc., ...'

Eltham, "Au-g. ;4, :'-. : . . .. . ' ' . '4-,