17 JULY 1941, Page 14

Country Petrol

Has the countryman a right to expect a larger petrol-allowance than the townsman? As a countryman myself I should say there are good reasons for saying yes, and certainly a reduction of the supple. mentary allowance is going to be very hard on those living in the country. It will be doubly hard on old people in winter-time. Shops, railway-stations, dentists, doctors and most other facilities are generally miles away ; buses are never timed to catch trains, and after running all day on a very thin time-table, often cease at six in the evening altogether. Many country people have also, during the last eighteen months, expended much petrol on evacuation, billeting, W.V.S. and Home Guard work, for which some of them, like myself, have never asked for a gallon extra. My own car nearly always re- sembles a small size bus, full of service-men, children or other country folk. Are these to go down in the log-book? What also is the log- book test for telling the truth? Is there any means by which a recorded journey can be proved as having really been undertaken for the purpose stated? The motorist is full of tricks. He may justifiably remember that the authorities have also used a trick. How many motorists were induced to take out the new year's licence by the faa that petrol-coupons were issued to cover the last months of the old year and the first of the new?