ROAD EXPENDITURE RECORD

Evening Star, Issue 20315, 25 October 1929, Page 6

ROAD EXPENDITURE RECORD

NEW ALLOCATION SYSTEM ANALYSED During the last financial year the construction and improvement of roads throughout tho dominion were actively prosecuted, with the result that many settlers who have been handicapped in the past for want of reasonable road access have now had that handicap removed, and vast improvement has also been effected to the already partiallycompleted roads by way of widening and surfacing. The expenditure on the construction of roads and main highways reached the very large sum of £1,770,073, which is considerably in excess of any previous record. This figure appears very high, but I think that when consideration is given to the absolute necessity for good roads in the proper development of the country the expenditure will be found to be justified. A large portion of tho expenditure mentioned was incurred on roads which were put in hand during the year for the purpose of easing the unemployment situation n. VQty Uirg© luunbfir ot iclisf workers having been engaged on road works. Although in ordinary circumstances some of the roads so treated would not have been constructed tor several years, care has been exercised in selecting only those roads winch will be of benefit to existing settlement, or those likely to promote new settlement at an early date. In short, every effort has been made to utilise the services of relief workers as much. as possible on reproductive'works. Good use was also made or the funds set aside in the “access to outlying districts ” vote, considerable assistance having been given during the year to many of the far-back settlers who have suffered from access difficulties for some time The constitution of the special vote for “back-block districts ” has been so successful that I feel justified in asking Parliament'to increase it tor the present year. With regard to the automatic allocation of funds under the roads vote, the factors upon which tho allocation has been based were: —Area, 5 per cent.; population, 5 per cent.; amount of general and special rates, o per cent.; ; total mileage of roads in use apart from metalled or surfaced roads, 5 per cent.; loans for roads, 5 per cent.; estimated amount to complete all as metalled roads, 37% per cent.; and value of undeveloped Crown and native lands, 37i- per cent. The system in accordance'with these factors has been in operation for several years, but as rt was felt that it was not meeting requirements satisfactorily, in that it was definitely known that some districts were receiving a larger quota of tho funds than 'their requirements over a period of years indicated as necessary, and as a result others were receiving less than they otherwise would, the question was thoroughjy gone into with a view to ascertaining whether an alteration in the factors would result in a fairer distribution of tho vote. After careful investigation it was decided to amend the system by deleting “area” and “population,” and adding the percentages from these factors to those for “total mileage of roads in use apart from metalled or surfaced roads ” and “ loans for roads, thereby increasing tho allowance for those two factors to 10 per cent, in each case. In addition, the third factor was altered to allow for general rates only, in lieu of general- and special, and unformed legal roads (i.e., paper roads) were deleted from the computation in the sixth factor, allowance being made only for those roads upon . which some formation work hod been carried out, or which will soon be brought into use. The factors in the new scheme are therefore Amount of general rates, 5 per cent.; total mileage of roads in use apart from metalled or surfaced roads, 10 per cent.; loans for roads, 10 per cent.; estimated amount to complete all roads (apart from legal unformed roads) as metalled roads, 374 per cent.; and value of undeveloped Crown and native land, 37-J per cent. These alterations had the desired effect, and the amended system has been put into operation this year, it being confidently anticipated that tho year’s experience will prove the soundness of and justification for the alteration. The expenditure ‘on the renewal of bridges was slightly more during the year than it was in 1927-28, with the result that many more old worn-out structures in various parts of the dominion were replaced. The damage caused to roads generally by floods was considerably less, but, nevertheless, a fairly large sum was expended, chiefly on minor repairs.