The difficulty about the petrol-allowance is that in the matter
of the supplementary ration every application ought to be decided on its merits. In view of the number involved that is hardly possible, or at the best it means that the decision must be left to a comparatively subordinate officiaL An indiscriminate all-round cut of 20 or 30 or 40 per cent. now would not be equitable. Certain principles at any rate ought to be recognised and taken into account. People, for example, living in the country at some distance from a town—a dis- persal-policy is in accord both with common sense and official injunction—have good grounds for their claim, and some businesses are more intrinsically important than Lthers. Rather too much, I think, has been made of cars seen at places like Newmarket. A basic allowance permitting 150-200 miles a month is statutory, and if people like to use some of it in going to races so long as racing in war-time is countenanced they are doing what they are entitled to. The basic ration is given for any purpose, the supplementary is confined strictly to special purposes. But of course the determining factor must be the state of our petrol-stocks.
Previous page
