HIGHWAYS BILL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 238, 8 October 1936, Page 11

HIGHWAYS BILL.

APPROVAL BY MOTORISTS. BENEFITS OF NEW CONTROL. Approval of the Main Highways Amendment Bill, which is designed to give the Main Highways Board direct control over the main arterial roading system of the Dominion, was expressed in interviews by Mr. A. Grayson and Mr. F. G. Farrell, president and presi-dent-elect respectively of the Automobile Association (Auckland). Mr. Farrell said in 1920 the combined automobile associations urged the then Government to adopt a similar system, but opposition by the Counties' Association induced the authorities to introduce the existing system of subsidised highways. The result had been patchwork roadmaking, and motorists had suffered for years from the apparent apathy of some local bodies who had seemed reluctant to apply modern methods of maintenance. There were thus many cases of the old type of liigh-crowned, pot-holed roads. Mr. Grayson said motorists throughout New Zealand had every confidence in the board, and felt that, when it gained complete control, it would initiate a progressive programme of improvements, and many of the notorious conditions would be removed. A large proportion of the northern national highways ran through sparsely-populated country from which local bodies obtained little revenue in the way of rates. As a national enterprise, roadmaking by the board would overcome such difficulties, and motorists would obtain some more adequate return for the excessive heavy taxation imposed by fees and taxes on tyres and petrol. The average tax per car last year exceeded £20.