ROADS AND BRIDGES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 14 December 1932, Page 10

ROADS AND BRIDGES

HEAVY EXPENDITURE STATEMENT BY MINISTER When speaking at the bridge-opening ceremony at Pahiatua on Saturday, the Minister of Lands (the Hon. E. A. Ransom) referred to the heavy expenditure on bridges that is falling upon the Dominion at the present time. This, he said, was being brought about by the collapse of the old wooden structures which had served their day. Tlie new bridges necessary to replace thorn were very costly hut were being built to last for a hundred years or more. In a way, the duplication of transport services was to he regretted and liis appeal to the people was to use the railways because the roads were proving so costly. The capital cost of roads, streets, bridges, etc., at 31st March, 1931, had reached the huge total of £05,700,000, which was more than was sunk in railway undertakings ( £51,000,000.) Perhaps tile most striking figure in connection with the cost of roads, streets, and bridges was the annual expenditure which for the year ended 31st March, 1932, was £9,200,000. That figure represented 9.4 per cent of the national production for that year, namely, £98,000,000.

The revenue required to meet the animal charges was obtained from the following: Local ratepayer 51 per cent, motorist 27 per cent., and general taxpayer 22 per cent. In spite of tho fact that the annual yield from special motor taxation had increased from £402,500 in 1925-20 to £2,357,000 in 1931-32, statistics showed that the burden of country rates had also increased. One tiling was clear, said Mr Ransom—that with the present level of prices, local authorities could not continue the present expenditure on roads. Fhe general tendency in the direction of shifting the base of taxation for reading purposes from the land to the motor had been adopted in all countries where the motor had developed.