Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 6 (October 1, 1928)

Fuel Factors

Fuel Factors.

There is another aspect of the case, which is purely an economic one, and that is the fuel aspect. Now, so long as a country cannot provide its own fuel, it entails a constant outgoing to buy this commodity. This is, of course, not a total loss, as work done by the imported fuel represents revenue. Where, however, an alternative form of transport exists it seems to me that a close investigation to show whether the increase in return, if any, by the use of imported fuel, in any way compensates, for the reduction in the returns of the railways. I do not think there is any question about the matter as a great part of the fuel imported is used for non-reproductive purposes.

Australia, which in 1927 imported 145,700,000 gallons of petrol at a cost of £6,600,000 has already done something in regard to the local production of this fuel from molasses and shale oil. The production of petrol from arrowroot and prickly pear, and of oil from coal, is also under consideration in the Commonwealth. It has been pointed out that isolation due to war would be serious for a country relying on imported fuels for motor transport, and this question has, I think, a local aspect.