COUNTY HIGHWAYS

Evening Star, Issue 22379, 1 July 1936, Page 13

COUNTY HIGHWAYS

RIDING FINANCE OBSTACLES MINISTER CONTEMPLATES LEGISLATION [Pbr United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, Juno 30. The obstacles in the way of necessary works on main highways owing to the present method of financing county councils were referred to today by the Minister of Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple). The Minister said he had found that one ‘of the most common obstacles to the advancement of necessary works on main highways was the inability or refusal of county councils to contribute a relatively small share of the expenditure because a particular riding was unfinancial and the councils were not disposed to regard such matters from a county point of view. Although the Counties Amendment Act, 1931, enabled county _ councils to dispense with separate riding accounts, only onethird of the counties had so far taken advantage of the provision. There were some counties, however, which, although they had not v abolished riding accounts, did regard' their _ highways liabilities as a county obligation by declaring all main highways to be county main roads. That meant that the county’s highways expenditure \vas charged to its general account and not to the separate riding accounts. The Highways Fund could be said to provide financial relief to local authorities, as well as supplying the money necessary for a reading system in conformity with modern traffic requirements. In the past the relief intended for a county as a whole had not been enjoyed to the full extent owing to the riding system of accounting, the Minister continued. With the advent of the State highways which would mean substantial financial relief for many county councils, the question naturally arose whether or not that relief should be spread over the whole county instead of a single riding. It was obviously unfair that because a riding contained a State highway it should be freed from contributing to the general highways expenditure of the county, or that other ridings not containing State highways should be deprived of the monetary relief which would result from the system. Those anomalies would continue to exist as long as county councils placed riding interests ’ before those of the county as a whole, and in order to secure the full support of all local bodies in the maintenance and improvement of main highways the desirabilitv of introducing legislation requiring all counties to charge their expenditure on highways to their general account would hare to he seriously considered by the Government.

The Minister pointed out in conclusion that there were 120 counties in New Zealand containing separate ridings. The present system was costly, almost unworkable, and stupid ’ i the extreme, and the whole problem would have to he tackled with firmness and determination.