THROUGH THE PIPELINE

Sub-Committee 2-J. W. Frid and C. R. Peskett. Special conditions for post-payment and unattended self-service at retail filling stations.

Sub-Committee 3-H. Griffiths and J. Birks. Pre-licensing requirements and licence conditions for the storage of cans, drums and other receptacles.

The Association's recommendations for underground car parks and garages and for various types of car parks would remain unaltered.

The Committee discussed a programme in order that the amendments should be both fully considered and yet available at the earliest possible time. It was decided that the sub-committees should be asked to deal with their amendments as quickly as possible. When the draft amendments of the Association's codes were ready, they would be discussed with Working Party 'A' of the Institute of Petroleum, then re-considered by the Technical Committee to finalise the draft for submission to a special meeting of the Council, the Council could then either accept the Committee's final drafts or refer them back for re-consideration. The Committee considered that Part II of the Model Code relating to Distribution Depots and Major Installations should not be dealt with at this time.

Resolved-That the report be adopted.

Any Other Business

It was agreed to fill the vacancy on the Council caused by the death of Mr. R. L. Bloor by appointing the unsuccessful candidate with the next highest votes at the election in 1968. Mr. K. C. Hughes Stafford was appointed.

It was also agreed that the travelling expenses of members when on Council work should be in accordance with the N.A.L.G.O. scale.

The Council was entertained to luncheon by the kind offices of Councillor H. Shephard, Chairman of the Hemsworth Rural District Council, who was supported by members of his Council together with Chief Officers. Councillor Shephard proposed a toast to the Association and a suitable reply was made by Mr. D. Hall.

It must be tempting to industry to play the field with more than 1,400 authorities to choose from; particularly ifthe Home Office and large authorities are obdurate. But what is achieved by persuading some small out-of-the-way authority to accept a new gimmick whose value and safety they may not be competent to judge. Perhaps now that the Association has a Technical Committee to advise, fewer of them will be tempted to go it alone.

From time to time, praise is heaped on the system said to operate in West Germany for the approval of new equipment and ideas. If the system in fact operates as alleged it has much to commend it. A decision on the suitability of any innovation can be taken by a central government committee comprising representatives of central government ministries and the eleven "Landers" (i._e. provincial or _regional governments) sitting together with experts from mdustry and other semi-official bodies. Alternatively a decision may be taken by any of the "Landers" where prime responsibility for safety lies. By custom, a decision by one "Lander" is almost invariably endor~ed by the others and ultimately by the central committee.

Thus an applicant has the choice of approaching in informal discussion any or all of the eleven "Landers" ai_-id the _cen~ral committee. He would obviously submit !us ~pphcatto~ to the one he thought most sympathetic to his cause m the knowledge that any decision in his favour would almost certainly be endorsed throughout the whole country. For the system to work it must be pres~med that each d~cidin~ body has sufficient expertise to give pr~p~r consideration to any submission and reasonable liaison between the bodies must also exist.

Neverth~less one wonders whether this is a pattern for the future m the United Kingdom if and when regional government is established.

by OTTO

QUO VADIS?

It is no part of the function of a petroleum o~cer to stand in the way of progress. It is not eve~ part of his duty to decide in which direction progress hes. All th~t he may properly do is to ensure that developments and mnovations in the petroleum world proceed along proper and safe lines. Licensing authorities should not be tempted to achie~e a "first" in the field of new developments. When Cam slew Abel he won many "firsts" but what honour thereby accrued to him ? Nor is there honour in advertising the fact of one's approval of a particular idea or for that matter in turning one's face against further developments which detract from any advantage one's own "first" may have.

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WHERE'S THE POINT ?

To the casual observer it must seem that life in the petroleum industry is always fraught with difficulty. In recent years one has seen interruptions of supplies due to the Suez incident, the Middle East War and to some extent the Nigerian Civil War. Yet always the industry appears to cope with the minimum of fuss and without any undue increase in price-although one is reminded that that temporary Suez surcharge is in danger of becoming permanent. But then so perhaps is the temporary

Suez Canal closure !

The latest problem to beset the industry is of the finest home grown variety. At first sight it is difficult to see why

Parliament's decision to decimalize the currency and to make the pound sterling worth 100 new pennies should cause the slightest stir in an internationally based industry already familiar with the decimal point.

Closer examination reveals that the cause for concern centres largely around the selection of the half new penny (or is it the new half penny ?) as the smallest unit of currency. If, for example, industry has to round the price of petrol up or down by a quarter of a new penny, the result will be an increase or decrease respectively of £8-} million in profits. If industry takes the increase the motorist will suffer, but in the light of some recent company results can industry take the loss ?

There is a way out of the dilemma by adopting the philosophy of what one loses on the swings one gains on the roundabouts. But why should the swinging oil-fired home heater lose so that the peripatetic motorist can gain?

There is of course the possibility of juggling with grade p_rices but is this really the answer? To the uninitiated the simple solution would be to quote the price per gallon in tenths of a new penny so as to achieve a more nearly accurate conversion from today's currency. _It is said that this simple solution does not find favour with the Decimal Currency Board. Apparently one may express the present-day 2s. Id. as being roughly equivalent to 10.5 new pennies, presumably because we have an 0.5 new penny coin, but one may not quote a petrol price of 28.2 _new pennies per gallon, or presumably 282 new penmes per ten gallons. position is due to get worse when a date for metrication 1s fixed. Industry is then almost certain to want to quote prices in hundredths of a new penny per litre. Perhaps before that time someone should tell the Decimal Currency Board that it is by no means unusual to see the pound quoted at 2.3908 dollars; yet the Americans cannot split a cent. This being so what is wrong with petrol priced at £0.282 per gallon except that it is probably only "two star".

To the man who says "Why worry, it won't happen to me", one can only reply "Don't be a pessimist. D (for decimalization) Day is 15th February, 1971. onlv just over two years away".

Legal Proceedings

HARTLEPOOL-ILLEGAL KEEPING OF PETROLEUM SPIRIT

Shortly after midnight on the 18th July, 1968, a fire gutted a three-bedroomed Hartlepool Council house in which ten persons, including four children under seven years of age, were stated to be living. A number of the occupants were treated in hospital for minor burns and shock, personal belongings were lost and a pet dog and three cats died in the flames. There was evidence that at the time of the incident cans of petrol which had been obtained for use in the tenant's car were being kept on the premises and that the contents of one of the cans may have been ignited by sparks from a wood and sea-coal fire. Results of a thorough investigation carried out by Officers of the local Police and Fire Services were passed to the Weights and Measures Department and on the basis of these reports the Local Authority decided that in order to focus public attention upon the dangers of keeping petrol in a dwelling-house, legal proceedings should be instituted against the tenant concerned.

On the 30th October, 1968, at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court, fines totalling £10, with two guineas costs, were imposed for breaches of Nos. 4 and 5(d) of the Petroleum Spirit (Motor Vehicles, etc.) Regulations, 1929, relating respectively to keeping petrol in a vessel not marked as prescribed and to keeping petrol in a storage place not adequately separated from a dwelling house.

24

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