PETROL.
In view of the sharp rise in the price of petrol, and all that it means to the motor traffic of London, it is scarcely surprising that Lord Ashfield, in speaking of the future, should have expressed some concern with regard to the expenditure side of the accounts. Last year, he said, his group of companies paid altogether in rates and taxes no less than £978,000, representing about one-quarter of the net receipts remaining after meeting working expenses. He anticipated that the rise of 21d. per gallon in petrol would involve the company in increased expenditure during the current year of £200,000, while he pointed out that the present tax of 4d. per gallon represented a burden of £400,000 a year of costs to be met out of cheap fares, the ave receipts per passenger for last year having been less t 2d. There was, Lord Ashfield maintained, a limit bey which the company could not bear this great strain wit
fares being affected. * * * *
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