RISE IN PETROL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12707, 31 July 1919, Page 6

RISE IN PETROL.

MOTOR OWNERS. 1 ; VIEWS. ' INCREASE CONSIDERED . UNNECESSARY. ' :' Very large orders are being "placed with local petrol-distributing firms as a result of the rise of Is 4d in the prie*. ?vi tlle - Vacm, *hj Oil Company's productrho rise was n'ot,viewed with equanimity by some garage proprietors, whom a reporter interviewed on the subject to-day. "So far as the garage proprietors who buy their petrol through the large firms are Concerned, we have no redress," said the manager of a city garage. "We simply have to pay.'' he continued. "We are merely the ball, and they, (the wholesale firms) can bang us about as they like. It is a very soro point, this petrol. We used to buy it at about 17s a case before tho war, and sell it at about 19s. The present retail selling price is 25s 8d for good grades. We make 2s per case, but out of that we have to allow for wastage, and we have to have plaut costing about £250 in which to store the petrol. We have to have a special building for it, - a special insurance rate, and, : a licenso to sell it. So we don't get much out of the 25." Another garage proprietor stated that petrol could, before the war, be bought wholesale at 13s a case- He took the view that the decreased rate of exchange in America would be a large contributing factor in the present increase in price.

“I am quite at a loss to understand the increased price,” said Mr W. Hayward, _of Hayward's Rink Taxis, Ltd. “It is most unfortunate, especially now that the railway services are so restricted, and the public have to rely so much On motor-cars. It looks as if the present position is being taken advantage of, although, as 1 said, I have no official information as to the cause of the rise and it may not be so.” “ Will the increase he passed ’on in taxi faresP” Mr Hayward was asked. “No,”, he said. “For.one thing, it cannot be passed on because of the by-laws. We should, have to approach the City Council for a new table of fares. The rise in petrol does not affect us so much. as the rise in wages which took place, on June 1. Where w© used to pay £2 17s 6d, now we have to pay £3 10s, with Is 6d for overtime. Mr H. J. Ranger, president of the Garage Proprietors’ Association, stated that his association had not had time to meet and discuss the position- “What is the Board of Trade doing?” he asked. The maximum price of petrol had, of course, been fixed by the board at 27s fid, but that was about two years ago, and since then the price of petrol had dropped- “We are quite at the mercy of the Vacuum Company,” lie added. “ They are the controlling factor. The increase may he right or wrong, but it is a matter which the Board of Trade could investigate.” That the rise in price is not to he confined to petrol was made clear by Mr Ranger. The drop in the exchange rate would have its efrect upon all American goods, he said, and a rise of £3O to £4O in motor-cars was quite probable.

The reporter wag informed elsewhere that the taxi drivers had held a meeting last night and had decided not to apply to the City Council for permission to raise their fares. They would themselves bear the increase, without passing it on; “ The country is chock-a-block with petrol,” the reporter was informed. ‘‘Thousands of cases'of petrol have arrived in Lyttelton quite recently, and the British _ Imperial Oil Company’s Euplectela. is reported to he in Wellington now, with 98,000 cases of benzine. Large shipments are also expected at Lyttelton. If these stocks have been bought at current rates, as presumably they have, it will be s«en that if the. increased . price is charged on them-theywill realise, much' . more than the usual return on the purchase price.