Fuel rationing office swamped

The Rhodesia Herald January

19, 1974 SALISBURY’S fuel rationing office was swamped with inquiries yesterday after the date of fuel rationing and the number of litres to a unit were made known.

The Forbes Avenue office, in the old Magistrates Court, was “chaotic” until nearly midday, according to one officer dealing with the public. At one time, a queue stretched “quite a way” down the street, he said.

The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr Jack Mussett, announced yesterday that petrol rationing will start on February 1, and that each unit on the ration card already distributed to most motorists is worth five litres.

Some quick mental arithmetic told motorists that their allocations for a month would get them to work and back, and leave a little over for weekends.

Many of them went down to the petrol rationing office with queries of: “How do I get my children to school?”

Officials said that this would be dealt with, but until the Minister issued a statement on supplementary allocations, nothing could be done.

“The original assessments dealt only with basics and travel to work,” said the Fuel Rationing Officer for Rhodesia, Mr William Hook.

“Tourists, weekend farmers, people taking their children to school, medical cases, etc, are not being dealt with yet.”

Mr Hook said that from Monday, reassessments, corrections of errors, and changes of work, residence or car, and any other problems will be dealt with on the spot.

“We did this today and the average turn-around time was two or three minutes,” he said.

Registration cards are still being sent out, and a back-log of work has arisen because of forms incorrectly or incompletely filled in.

Last week officials were sending back about 1 000 incorrect forms a day.

“But by February 1, most people will have their coupons,” said Mr Hook.

“And we will consider requests for extra allocations, if motorists have good and sufficient reasons for them.”

LESSONS FOR TODAY

◆ Rationing is defined as the controlled distribution of scarce goods and services, or a system of limiting the amount of something that each person is allowed to have.

Rationing aims to overcome two major problems faced by an economy: shortages and control prices. Some of the items that have been rationed in the past include fuel, maize meal, cement, sugar, bread, cooking oil, water, etc.

War, extreme weather conditions and a sanctioned economy are some of the reasons that lead to rationing of goods and services.

◆ It must be pointed out that service providers are in business for profit. Rationing gives most businesses a rare opportunity to make super profits.