OATS AND PETROL.
[To site EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."' SIR,—There was an important announcement in the Times last week in reference to the feeding cf horses, to which all true Englishmen will desire to conform in the best interests of their country, but we have a right to ask that the Order should be carried out thoroughly and consistently throughout Great Britain and Ireland, and that there should not be a repetition of the "Petrol Scandal " of last year, which still continues in a less degree at the present time, to all appearance. Whether it is oats or petrol, if the interests of the country require that they should not be used by any private persons, the Order should be impartially and honestly carried out by the Government. Just a year ago all owners of private cars were required to make a return of the average amount of petrol used by them in the last three months, and for what purpose the car was used, and the estimated amount required for the next three or four months. Those who used their cars solely for public and private. business asked generally for sixteen or twenty gallons which they honestly believed they required per month, and received eight and ten gallons on their licence; but those who used their cars solely for their own pleasure, and to save railway journeys, asked for any amount from fifty to one hundred gallons, and received twenty- five and thirty gallons and upwards, or three times the amount allotted to those who only used their cars in the public service. In October the Commissioners appear to have realized the gross injustice of their apportionment, and in the new licences the smaller amounts were increased, and some of the luxurious cars had their amounts of petrol diminished, but it is not unfair to assume that two-thirds of the petrol used between April, 1916, and April, 1917, has been grossly wasted for private pleasure with the full knowledge and acquiescence of the Petrol Control Committee.
And now what is the position? Hundreds of thousands of gallons of petrol have been notoriously wasted during the last year, and there has been a great scare, and notices sent to every car-owner that their licences could not be renewed, but they could use any petrol in their possession, and this was generally con- sidered decisive; and no one should object to any sacrifice or inconvenience if he is assured that it is in the interest of the
country or of our Army or Navy, and that the Order will be impartially carried out in London and Newmarket as well as in the more distant counties; but we have a right to demand that assurance from some responsible Minister about the new Order having reference to the prohibition of the use of oats for horses after our experience of the recent blundering and incompetent mismanagement of petrol since April, 1916, and the number of persons with renewed licences now without any special reason after the official warning last March, that " in view of the urgent necessity for further limitation of the consumption of motor spirit the Petrol Committee were unable to renew licences." I regret that I cannot be in the House of Lords this week, but I am fully engaged in war and public business nearly every day, and shall probably have travelled by rail or road over a hundred and fifty miles before the end of the week.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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