PREMIER'S PROMISE

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 45, 22 February 1934, Page 11

PREMIER'S PROMISE

£500,000 TAXATION. MAIN HIGHWAYS BOARD FUND. RESTORATION HOPED FOR. A promise that he would consult the Minister of Finance with the object of seeing whether the Government could this year restore £500.000 taken last year from the Main Highways Board fund has been given to tho North Island Motor Union. Advice received from the secretary of the North Island Motor Union at last night's meeting of the council of the Automobile Association stated that the day following the half-yearly meeting a deputation representing the union and fiie South Island Union waited on the Prime Minister and urged him to restore I ho finances of the Main Highways Board to a better basis than at present. It was pointed out to Mr. Forbes that tho annual transfer of £500,000 of motor taxation to the Consolidated Fund left the Highways Board with insufficient funds to provide a proper standard of maintenance, and practically no money wherewith to attend to urgent and necessary construction work. "As a result," continued the letter, "the road surfaces generally are deteriorating, and tlie longer this goes on unchecked so, progressively, will the cost of restoration increase. Bad road surfaces cause increased wear and tear on tyres and motor vehicles, and Mr. Forbes agreed that it was not sound business to let so valuable an asset as our national loading system fail into disrepair. "As you are, of course, aware, a petrol tax was originally imposed in New Zealand for roading purposes and specially earmarked by Act of Parliament for that purpose. Just how far the Government has drifted from the original intention of the Act is illustrated by the disposition of the petrol tax collected in tho year ended December 31. 1033: —

"Petrol tax collected, plus surtax, £2,192,790. Of this £500,000 was paid to the Consolidated Fund. After other deductions had been made, tho amount eventually left for the Main Highways Hoard was £485,790. "The Minister said that the Government appreciated the attitude of the motorists in accepting without complaint tho Government's action in taking the £500,000 at a time when it was urgently needed for national purposes." Although the letter was received without comment, reference to motor taxation was made at a later stage of the meeting when bridges were under discussion. "Only 25 per cent of the motor taxation is received by the Main Highways Board," said Mr. H. J. Butcher. Mr. M. H. Wynnard: The total spent last year by the Main Highways Board was about a million pounds, as, in addition to part of the petrol tax, it receives license fees which enables the board to havn an income of about £900,000 a vear.