The Committee antioipates the objection that the combines, rather than
lose tenpence a gallon, may prefer to sell their petrol to other countries. In the view of the Committee, the petrol groups have invested so much capital in their British stores and distributing wagons that they will not boycott us, provided that they are assured of a " fair and reasonable " profit. This, of course, is a tenable view, but it affords no guarantee that the combines will in fact submit to a decree of the Board of Trade. More than half of our petrol comes from America, including Mexico. Only a fifth comes from within the Empire or from oilfields, like those of Southern Persia, which are under British control. Even the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, in which the British Government have a dominant interest, is
bound by contracts with the combines till 1922 and cannot sell its own product freely.
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