Royal Commission on Mineral Oils and Petrol and Other Products of Mineral Oils

Announced by the Attorney-General, J. G. Latham, on 22 March 1933 after several oil companies refused to give the undertakings the government required to give information to John Gunn, Director of Development, who was already investigating petrol prices. The commissioners were S. E. Lamb KC of Sydney (chairman), John Gunn, and A. E. Barton, a Sydney chartered accountant; A. J. Hancock, also a chartered accountant, later took Barton's place. Parliament passed the Petrol Commission Bill in May 1933 to confer the powers of the Royal Commissions Act expressly on the commission.

1. May 1933Petrol Commission Bill passed by Parliament, expressly conferring royal commission powers on the commission.
2. 25 June 1934Public sittings in Melbourne concluded; final public sittings were held in Sydney.
3. 8 April 1935Majority and minority reports tabled in Parliament.

Public sittings ended in June 1934. The majority report, by Gunn and Hancock, was received by early March 1935 and Lamb's minority report on 30 March 1935; both were tabled on 8 April 1935. Copies went to the states with an offer of a Commonwealth–state ministerial conference, findings on income tax were referred to the Commissioner of Taxation and those on restriction of trade to the Attorney-General. The House debate on the reports lapsed when Parliament was prorogued in 1937. The Parliamentary Handbook gives 8 April 1935 as the date the final report was presented.

• Prices and profits in the distribution and sale of petrol
• Accounts of the oil companies
• Trade in mineral oils and their products

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Some dates or links for this organisation are not fully confirmed. Corrections are welcome.