HOW THE COST WILL BE RAISED

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 105, 31 October 1923, Page 8

HOW THE COST WILL BE RAISED

FEES FROM WELLINGTON

MOTORISTS

PROBABLY £8000 PER ANNUM.

Eoad-making costs, like most other costs, have climbed since the new Hutt road was seriously discussed, and for that reason the power given the Wellington City Council by the Hutt Road Amendment of 1917 to raise a loan of £30,0C0 for the construction of the car-way was increased by further amendment during the last session of Parliament to allow ot the raising of £50,000, but the proportionate snares of the contributing local bodies remain the same, except that as the city' has_ since absorbed Onslow and, Miramar .boroughs, Wellington's share has increased accordingly. These proportionate shares were decided by the Hutt Road Act of 1915, and are as folJow: Wellington City Council, 44^ ]f: cent, (including Onslow 6 per cent., and Miramar £ per cent.); Petone Borough Council, 18 per cent. ; Lower Hutt Borough Council, 14 per cent.; Eastbourne Borough Council, £ per cent. ; Hutfc County Council, 8 per cent.; Makara County Council, 12 per cent. ; Johnsonvilla Town -Board, 2 per cent.; Upper Hutt Town B.oard, l\ per cent. The provisions of the amendment of 1917 render an appeal to ratepayers in the districts concerned unnecessary, and the Special loan may be raised by the City Council as soon as expedient. , :: •: the scale of fees. ■ Provision is also made in the . 1917 amendment for the collection of fees from, all motorists in the city and Wellington suburban, areas, all classes of inotbr vehicle being covered by the provision, section 9, which reads as follows:— '

;•'. After the first _ day of April,_ 1918, every person residing in the City of "Wellington and every person residing in the Wellington suburban area who owns a motor wagon, motor delivery van, ■motor-car or motor-cycle, and keeps or iiises the same within the said city 'fiv ; suburban area, shall annually pay to the Wellington-City Cquncil on or before the first day. of May in each year the fees set out hereunder in respect ;of each such vehicle owned by him:— Motor wagon not having rubber or .similar approved tires, £5; motor wagon having rubber tires, £3; motor delivery •van, £2; motor-car, £1 10s; motorcycle, 10s.

','■ A sub-sction foellows on to provide that moneys obtained by means of these fees are to be expended by the council in the maintenance and repairing of the road, and "to the extent of these fees so contributed the total amount of the contributions required to be made by the local authorities. . . shall be diminished." It. is also provided that the fees so payable by' Wellington motor vehicle owners are in addition toy and not in substitution for, any fee or licenses payable under any Act or bylaw affecting Wellington motorists.

NUMBER OF OWNERS ALMOST

TREBLED.

!! .When Section 9 was decided upon ■Wellington motor owners numbered not many more than 3000, but to-day there are: >yell over 3000 motor vehicle owners ,in- tho city and suburbs, and should the average fee work out at £1 per vehicle, -whether wagon, van, car, or cycle, the amount go payable through the City Council for maintenance arid repair of the new road surface will be well over £8000 per year. If the loan is raised at 5£ per cent, the interest and sinking fund together on the £50,000 loan will amount, if the sinking fund is limited to 1 per cent., to £3250, so that from fees collectable from motorists alone the council will/ it would seem, have, a very considerable income towards the maintenance and (he steady paying off of its share of the loan. Motor vehicles crowd yet more thick;y ■upon the city streets each m-'nth, and |n no very long time the tees co'ieotable from owners may have climbed upwards by another thousand or so per qnnum. , i ..■.-.. AN OMISSION. : The wording of the section 9 "after fte first.day of April, 1918 . . . every person . . . shall annually pay ... ," was referred to the Mayor, Mr! K. A. Wright, this morning, the. point raised being as to whether the council had not had the right tj.--collect, the. fees set out from Ist April, 1918. Mr. Wright replied that plainly there was an unfortunate omission in the wording of that section, in that it provided for the collection of tho fees after a definite date, but omitted to qualify that provision by such words as " or after the commencement of operations, upon the road." Apparently the .council had the right, under the wording of the section, to collect those fees from Ist April, 19i8, whether or no construction work had commenced upon the load, but one could well imagine the out£ry that would have gone up had the council demanded such fees before it could begin to offer anything in return. The 1917 amendment presumed that'the .work would be taken in hand at once, but the money market at the time was Bad, and therefore the raising of the I loan was held over. i

Z It was provided that motorists called «pon to pay those special fees would be exempted from any levy that would be Blade in connection with main highways Construction and maintenance; motorists would not be called upon to pay twice over. Considerable pains l>ad Been taken to sound motor-owners when the question of fees was under consideration and the cry had then been: "Give us a good road and we will willingly pay your fees," and he did not'think that today any exception would be raised to the imposition of the fees. It was well worth affiHnd.-P.r 30s a year to have a road that was a road such as modern traffic called for.

; 'There was no doubt about the work being put in hand, and as soon as was necessary steps woud be taken to go about the raising of the necessary money either in part or in whole. '