ROADING POLICY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 13 January 1928, Page 4

ROADING POLICY

STATEMENT BY PREMIER

USERS- MUST PAY

(Ctilted Ires* Association)

WHANGAREI, 12th Jan

In dealing with the Government's roading policy in his : main speech yesterday, Mr Ooates mentioned that.-6000 miles of highways had been mapped out, and they had been faced by an immediate demand for more improvements. lii 1924, the first year of the programme, the expenditure per mile was £sl, in 1925 it had been £73, and in 1926 it had risen to £lll. If £3 per car was only sufficient in 1924 to pay £sl per mile, who was going to pay for the roading at £lll per mile? On tho principle that the users should pay the petrol tax had been imposed, and with the added revenue it was intended eventually to increase the mileage of the highways by 3000. The cost of maintenance was almost in exact ratio to the increase in the number of cars imported. .. Tn the year 1925-26 local bodies had contributed £185,000 for loads maintenance, and in 1926-27 they had paid £273,000. Yet they ■ had been unable to meet the 3emands for expenditure by £200,000. Where had the money to come from to pay for the extra cost of roading? It had to come off the land and the effect apparently had been that the by-roads had suffered. The taxation of the land would have to be steadied up, or they would have increased difficulty in settling the new areas and in. keeping on those settlers already there. Nobodv, he claimed, could find fault with the Government in its effort to relieve, local taxation and place the load fairly on the shoulders of those who ought to pay.