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42
PETROLEUM STORES.
For many years the Sanitary Inspector has been responsible
for certain duties under the Petroleum Acts, and subsequent
legislation, dealing with the safe keeping of substances
included in the definitions of " Petroleum."
Certain petroleum products which flash below 73 deg. Fahrenheit,
and calcium carbide, can only be kept under license of
the Council (who have certain regulations to safeguard the
mode of storage, etc.), except in some instances where the
regulations of the Secretary of State are substituted in favour
of persons keeping the spirit in moderate quantities for private
use only, such as for motor cars.
Other petroleum, such as the oil sold for illuminating purposes,
is subject to no license or condition, unless samples,
which are taken from time to time and tested in the Council's
apparatus (Abel test), are found to give off inflammable vapour
below the 73 deg.
This branch of the work is increasing considerably, owing
to the growth of the motor car trade, the duties principally
consisting of inspections to see that there are no infringements
of the Petroleum Acts, Home Office Regulations, or
the conditions printed on the licenses issued by the Council.
At the present time 20 licenses are in force for keeping
petroleum to which the Acts apply, and four other persons
have notified the keeping of spirit under Home office regulations.
The quantity allowed to be kept by the different
licensees varies according to the amount of open space and
the distance of buildings from the storage vaults, and ranges
from 10 to 400 gallons.