ROADS CONSTRUCTION AND NATIVE LANDS BILL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume III, Issue 263, 19 June 1882, Page 2

ROADS CONSTRUCTION AND NATIVE LANDS BILL.

Tr?E sketch of the Roads Construction Bill contained in the Government Circular, shows that their author^ clearly recognises the great fact that from rates alone sufficient capital to construct even district roads cannot bo raised. When members of the House of Representatives talk of money being all that is required to make the present Local Government Acts work smoothly, they confuse the question at issue and tbe functions of local bodies. These are two-fold in a new district, first to construct new works, then to maintain, repair and improve them when constructed. The first requires a large outlay of capital, the second a sufficient and regular annual income. The proportion of maintenance income required for every £100 spent on new roads and bridges depends upon the weight of traffic, the number aud class of bridges, the character of tbe country, and whether the new roads arc both formed and metalled or only formed. But in no case probably would the cost of maintenance, exclusive of gravelling, exceed 10 or 15 per cent on the capital expended. If, therefore the members of Parliament referred to, mean that for undertaking new works the rural districts require a supply of capital, and that if this were provided, much of the present difficulty would cease, we agree with them. And further, we hold, that tbe Bills proposed, would afford a reasonable means for supplying a roads' construction fund. This has, however, nothing to do with tbe " too much local government complaint " referred to previously. For current repairs and improvements of existing roads, rates are generally sufficient in settled districts, if fairly apportioned. Crown and native lands ought of course, to bear their fair share, otherwise they are an incubus on the local body, as they require expenditure on roads from County or Road Board funds,_ to which funds they do not now contribute anything.