ROAD BOARDS.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2697, 9 October 1871, Page 3

ROAD BOARDS.

Among the papers recently laid before both Houses of the General Assembly, there is an exceedingly interesting return compiled from returns furnished by road boards in the various provinces, showing the amount of receipts and disbursements of such boards for the year ending June 30. We find that there are in all 301 road boards in the Colony, as follows : - Auckland, 92 ; Taranaki, 21 ; Wellington, 31 ; Hawke’s Bay, 11 ; Nelson, 9 5; Canterbury, 35; Westland, 5; Otago, 92. The following table shows at what expense these boards do their work, as compared with the money they have had to expend. Expense of ExpendiBoard, ture.

It is a noticeable fact that the Canterbury Boards, with L 7.000 less to expend than the Otago Boards, cost the ratepayers nearly four times ns much. From the table showing how much of the revenue of road boards was derived from rates, how much was spent on new and existing roads, we find that Otago heads the list. Under heading No. 1 the amount is— L 11.914 16s lOd, against L 11.517 12s lOd in Auckland, the next highest; and under No. 2, L 14.672 14s 7d, against L 13,642 15s 3d.

£ s. d. £ 8. d. Auckland 2,582 2 5 25,391 16 1 Taranaki 56 7 7 1.918 1 6 Wellington ... Hawke’s Bay... 369 8 1 7 172 1 2 23 17 4 1,401 18 1 Nelson 735 17 8 9,215 16 2 Marlborough... 159 6 11 1,618 10 4 Canterbury ... 4,347 9 11 31,606 18 6 Westland 1,371 17 1 3,389 9 3 Otago 1,165 2 7 38,701 18 7