Nothing could be more galling for the British motorist than
to be told he can hope for no relaxation of the harsh restrictions imposed on him in the matter of petrol, while in every other European country petrol is completely unrationed, though no doubt more expensive than here. It is no use for the Minister of Fuel and Power, new or old, merely to say that petrol costs dollars. The question whether it need cost dollars at all is an oven one. It can
be argued convincingly that enough petrol to give motorists some- thing like adequate treatment can be obtained exclusively from sterling sources ; though I know there are counter-arguments to that. If the new Minister of Fuel and Power wants to earn general gratitude he will explore the question of sterling-source petrol to its depths. That motorists should get no better treatment in 1950 —five years after the end of the war—than in 1949, and worse treat- ment than any other motorists in Europe, is in its way a minor outrage. Various compromises are, of course, possible To ration petrol financially might work unfairly. But to leave the present basic and supplementary allowances as they are and allow persons who had exhausted their coupon rights to buy petrol at higher prices would mean that relatively little would be 4iemanded, but that that little would go to persons who Knuinely needed it.
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