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PETROL SECOMB
VITAL ISSUE
In Elections In
Britain
LONDON, Feb. S (AAP.); '
: -Petrol bas become a new and
vital brae In the British dee- .
' tion. It was raised by Mr
: Winston Churchill in his
Devonpert speech to-day, when,
. he declared: "We make no
definite premises, but we be-
lieve that by a readjustment
et the exports of sterling
petrel, it may soon be possible
te lacrease greatly the Brit-
ish motorist's basie ration."
The basic ration is 90 miles a
month with a double ration for
the three summer months.
Mr.. Churchill added: "We rea-
lise the; deprivation, and often
hardship, - involved in the strict
rationing of : petrol which the
Socialists' have. enforced, and
we are determined to put an end
to . ii at the earliest possible
moment We cannot, and do not,
make any definite promise at this
stage. We have been kept, in the
dark to such an extent that it is
impossible for us to measure the
difficulties and repercussions
which freeing the sale of petrol
at this moment might involve. .
PLENTF OF STERLING
PETROL.
. "But' when we remember the
enormous amount of petrol- pro-
duced in the sterling area, it does
seem strange that this country
should be almost the. only one in
which petrol is rationed. We be-
lieve that by skilful management,
and the readjustment of exports
of sterling petrol, even If it is not
possible to abolish .petrol ration-
ing altogether, it may soon be
possible to increase greatly 'the
basic ration."
Mr. Churchill said: "Sir Staff ord
Cripps now boasts that the Social-
ist Government has given away
to countries aboard, £1500 million
to help the reconstruction of the
world. One hundredth part of
this would have.been enough to
give every private motorist a rea-
sonable ration of petroL
"CHARITY BEGINS AT
HOME."
"The Conservatives are as keen
as the Socialists'td help to revive
other countries of the.world, but
we believe that we should be just
before we are generous. It would
take very strong arguments to
convince me that our people
should be deprived of the use of
their motor vehicles while other
countries enjoy abundant supplies
of petrol, largely bought with the
money we have presented to them,
and for a large part of which wa
still remain debtors to America."
MOTORISTS CIRCULARISE
CANDIDATES.
.The joint committee ol the
Automobile. Association and the
Royal- Automobile Club has cir-
cularised every Parliamentary
candidate, urging an end to petrol
rationing as soon as possible. The
committee said that the standard
ration accounted for only 7 per-
cent, of Britain's total petrol con-
sumption, and even with the sup-
plementary allowances, it amoun-
ted to less than one-third of the
total. The committee said that
world oil production exceeds de-
mand, and in Britain the refiner-
ies are producing 900,000
tons more this year than in 1949.
$