"NIGGER IN WOOD PILE."

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 235, 5 October 1927, Page 17

"NIGGER IN WOOD PILE."

TAXATION OF MOTORISTS. FEAR OF AN INCREASE. Stating that there was "a nigger in "the wood-pile," Mr. F. W. Freeman, at the annual meeting of delegates to the South Island Motor Union at Christchurcli on Friday, spoke of the Prime Minister's anxiety with regard to the effect of increasing motor traffic on the railways. "He is alarmed because the railways arc being run at a loss," said Mr. Freeman. "It seems to me that there is a nigger in the wood-pile. It seems that he is foreshadowing further taxation. He says quite plainly that motorists should be taxed up to a further £6 each. When you come to think out how the Government exact—may I say extort? — those taxes from us, and hand it out as if it were their own, what a beautiful avenue of appropriations this is for politicians and Governments. The railways in future will have to scrap a lot or 'go west.' In less than three years the motorist registrations have doubled. It is on the cards that if an extra direct taxation is introduced we will resent it. (Hear, hear.) The Government is preaching maintenance—not construction. That is the nijrger in the wood-pile. This Ministry of Transport is a step in the wrong direction." Mr. 11. Halliday (Otago): Don't you think the Prime Minister's attitude is directed towards omnibuses? Mr. Freeman, quotirig from a recent speech of Mr. Coates', said that he had distinctly said that an extra tax should be imposed in every motor vehicle. Mr. F. W. Johnston: It is a big problem. We must not take a small view, but look at it from the point of view of the general taxpayer. It was decided to ask the executive to keep in touch with the matter.