MAIN HIGHWAYS

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 July 1936, Page 5

MAIN HIGHWAYS

COUNTY COUNCIL FINANCES. [per press association.] WELLINGTON, .June 30. The obstacles in the way of necessary works in the main' highways, owing to the present method of the financing ' of County Councils, were referred to to-day by the Minister of Public Works, Hon. R. Semple.

The Minister said that he had found that one of the most common obstacles to the advancement of necessary works on main highways was the inability, or the refusal of the County Councils to contribute relatively a 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 the County Councils to dispense with separate. Riding accounts, he said, only one-third of the Counties had so far taken advantage of this provision. There were some Counties, however, which, although they had not abolished the Riding accounts, did regard their highways liabilities as a County obligation by declaring all of the main highways to be County main roads. That meant that the County’s highways expenditure was charged to its general accounts.

The Highways Fund, ’ said Mr Semple, could be said to provide financial relief to the local authorities as well as supplying the money necessary for a loading system equal to modern traffic requirements. In the past, relief that was intended for the County as a whole had not been enjoyed to the full extent, owing to the Riding system of accounting. With the advent of the State Highways system, which would mean a substantial financial relief for many County Councils, the question naturally arose as to whether or not that the relief should bo spread over the whole County, instead of a single riding. It was, obviously, unfair that, because a j.;,ir-.nf a state highway, it sir. . ..ced from contributing to the general highways expenditure of the County, or that other ridings which did not contain State highways should be deprived of the monetary relief- which would result from the State system. Those anomalies would continue to exist so long as the 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 the improvement of main highways, the desirability of introducing legislation requiring all of the Counties to charge their expenditure on the highways to their General Account would have to be seriouslyconsidered by the Government. The Minister pointed, out that there were 120 Counties in New Zealand, containing separate ridings. The, present system -was costly, and was almost unworkable, and was stupid in the extreme, and the whole problem would have to be tackled with firmness and determination. GREY COUNTY UNAFFECTED Discussing the foregoing message with a “Star” representative, to-.day, the Grey County Clerk (Mr. M. Keating) said that the Minister’s remarks referred .more particularly to some of the smaller counties in the South Island. In some cases, different rates were levied in each riding. The rate in one riding, for instance, might be IJd, and in another 3d. So far as the Grey County was concerned, said Mr. Keating, all the roads

had been declared as main roads for the past twenty years, or more. The system of separate riding accounts was not in force in the Grey. County, and he did not think that it was in force to any extent in the other West Coast counties.