must be packed in separate cans enclosed in cases, and the minimum charge for its carriage is 5s. For that amount there can be sent, however:—
14 cases=84 gallons. (If the rate does not exceed) 10s. per ton
7 cases " 42 gallons. (If the rate does not exceed)" 20s. per ton"
4 cases " 24 gallons. (If the rate does not exceed)" 30s. per ton"
3 cases " 18 gallons. (If the rate does not exceed)" 40s. per ton"
and so on, according to the rate and quantity sent.
To put this in another way, for the minimum charge of 5s. there can be sent approximately, ten cases or sixty gallons, to any place within about twenty-five miles from London, thus the cost of carriage to such places will be about a penny a gallon.
To places about fifty miles from London there can be sent about seven cases at a cost of three-halfpence a gallon.
In the same way the cost of sending to places about one hundred miles from London will be about twopence-halfpenny a gallon, and so on, according to distance.
There is, as a rule, a saving of about one-third in the relative cost of carriage if as much as a ton (equal 240 gallons) can be forwarded at one time.
This is because the regulations allow that quantity to be sent in drums not enclosed in cases, and consequently the dead weight of the packages is much less in proportion to the quantity of spirit sent. There is no economy, however, in ordering a large quantity at a time unless the petrol can be stored in a suitable place.
The following regulations were issued by the Home Office on the 26th of April, 1900:
Locomotives on Highways Act, 1896
(59 & 60 Vict., c. 36, s. 5)
In promulgating the following regulations relating to the keeping, conveyance, and use of petroleum in connection with light locomotives, the Secretary of State for the Home Department desires to direct public attention to the dangers that may arise from the careless use of the more volatile descriptions of petroleum commonly known as petroleum spirit.
Not only is the vapour therefrom, which is given off at ordinary temperatures, capable of being easily ignited, but it is also capable, when mixed with air, of forming an explosive atmosphere. It is, therefore, necessary, in dealing with and handling the spirit, to take strict precautions by the employment of thoroughly sound and properly closed vessels, and by avoiding the use of naked lights in dangerous proximity, to prevent leakage of the spirit and the contact of any form of artificial light with the highly inflammable vapour which it is always evolving.
By virtue of the powers conferred on me by the fifth section of the Locomotives on Highways Act, 1896, I hereby make the following regulations for the keeping and use of petroleum for the purposes of light locomotives.
Save as herein provided, the provisions of the Petroleum Acts shall apply to all petroleum kept or used or sold for the purposes of light locomotives.
In these regulations the expression 'petroleum spirit' shall mean the petroleum to which the Petroleum Act, 1871, applies, provided that when any petroleum other than that to which the Petroleum Act, 1871, applies, is on or in any light locomotive or is being conveyed or kept in any place on or in which there is also present any petroleum spirit as above defined, the whole of such petroleum shall be deemed to be petroleum spirit.
In these regulations the expression 'storehouse' shall mean any room, building, coach-house, lean-to, or other place in which petroleum spirit for the purposes of light locomotives is kept in pursuance of these Regulations.
