"Fill 'Er Up"

"Fill 'er up, please, right to the top," caroled a British motorist last week as he braked to a happy stop at a gas pump. Behind him other drivers, grinning as broadly, queued up to wait their turns. Some made a ritual bonfire of their petrol coupons. Some tore them up and scattered them to the winds. For the first time in ten years, eight months and four days, British motorists were able to get all the gasoline they wanted without coupons. "The gratification to the motorists," intoned the great grey Times of London in one of the most reserved statements of its stately career,"can scarcely be measured."

Oilmen and garage proprietors purred at the prospects of big sales ahead. Secondhand car dealers rubbed out their price notices and chalked up new figures -L-50 to -L-100 higher. Country innkeepers tidied up unused rooms in happy anticipation of new customers hitting the open roads once again. City stockbrokers rubbed their hands in satisfaction as rubber, oil and hotel shares climbed.

Even the Tories were happy because they could say, "I told you so." During the last election campaign, Churchill had demanded an ending of the petrol ration and been charged with "irresponsibility" by his Laborite opponents. The happiest of all, however, were the tens of thousands of Britons whose cars have been limited to a thwarting 90 miles' worth of petrol a month.

Only a few weeks ago the Labor government had held out no hope of increasing the ration. Extra petrol meant spending extra dollars, since 36% of Britain's supply must come from U.S. companies, and spending dollars meant going without timber for houses and food for lunch. The government, many Britons knew, had been busy since last November with some sort of negotiations with U.S. oil companies, but the only result seemed to be a decision to cut dollar-spending even more. Then, one day last week, Fuel Minister Philip Noel-Baker rose in the House of Commons to announce that Standard Oil Co. (N.J.) and California Texas Oil Co. had both offered to sell oil to Britain for pounds instead of dollars, provided that Britain lifted rationing. The oil companies promised to spend their pounds in Britain for tankers, pipelines and other equipment.

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