Highways System May Be Crippled

Northern Advocate, 25 May 1938, Page 6

Highways System May Be Crippled

A note of warning was sounded by Mr J A S Mac Kay, chairman of the Whangarei County Council, at the council's annual meeting today, when he stated in his report that the present huge expenditure of money by the Main Highways Board might result in the crippling of the whole highways system.

‘Under the heading of petrol taxation and maintenance of roads outside of the highways system, a matter of grave concern to county councils, ratepayers and all road users, is the fact that a lax’ge proportion of the heavy levy on road users through the petrol tax is not being made available either to local bodies or to the Main Highways Board for reading purposes. This is forcing the Main Highways Board to enter upon a huge borrowing policy which, if continued, may result in crippling the whole highways system; and while the volume of revenue from petrol taxation is inincreasing, local bodies obliged to increase rather than decrease their rates. This is extremely disappointing, as the original object of imposing a tax on petrol was to ease the burden of road rates on the local ralepayers. “The Now Zealand Counties’ Association has been urging upon the Government the justification of providing from petrol taxation, a £1 for £1 subsidy on expenditure on roads other than highways in lieu of the present subsidy on general rates—a proposal and policy endorsed by this council. I submit that the Counties’ Association should bo invited to again press for the change in common fairness to those who are forced to pay petrol tax in raking use of these roads.”