THE KING'S HIGHWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19740, 13 September 1927, Page 8

THE KING'S HIGHWAY.

ROMANCE AND 1 ™~~ ''B THE BUS AND TRAM PROBL^ 5 AT the: cross roads, ! RESTRICTIONS ON ROAD USS. ' . A. J. STAI.LWOn.THY. ' ■ | Tha Motor Omnibus Act of last ;| struck a deadly Wow. at- a mance concerning the King's highwav r, i countered a widespread belief that ertrr |! man had an | inalienable right to u-.& „' ij' road just as he liked. net only for -hk .1 personal convenience, but for commercial 3 purposes. "8 Popular opinion, indeed, went a •It believed that any mun had rfcg j&j£: | to commercialise the roid. Thss, snoW, - $ buses grew like mushrcoms,.roads' ' I lined with vehicles and there was a port service for almost every fcoa.be. Where roads were indifferently I they began to disappear as a lesult of 1 the heavy traffic. Where roa-t> Riff, brought up to modern requirements motor : services increased and street congestion resulted. In either case, there was heavj cost to ratepayers for road coming and maintenance. The motor u;iiig the , / road paid no adequate contributi^c. At last the slumbering ratepayer i eneri to thi.-. fact, and began to ask qaes: tions. By this period the time system had resulted in vrhole fleets 0 f motor-buses and a great army of biaowners combined to exploit the pot-Ktjji wealth of the roads on a commercial.basalt; In the cities where corporation firanj, port systems had been developed at i ; coat, the ratepayers found that their ossa- : roads were being used against thea b? >' competitive, unregulated, imspoatipNl and non-contributory services. Whije sub. urban districts reaped temporary beaejii from this profligate transport, on m,. whole most serious difficulties arose tj local governing bodies and to the Got. eminent itself. i Hatienial Economy. Then came the Motor Omnibus with a mandate against- unregulatej .a|||| petition and a complete reversal of wlui had been general policy for ya;irs past Ever since "private enterprise" tularintaizied a storm of controversy and a. del& erate stubborn resistance. The political situation unique. The Act is condemned as beiag ultra-socialistic., ¥et it was put; on Sfe&l Statute Book'by what >s called a servative" Government, and that Go-rent-ment certainly got into office was opposed to the Socialistic Party io New Zealand. And the riddle is not complete until we recognise that the "Ccnservative" Government io the one gen-dr-ally believed to stand for vested cr private interests. How, tier., in flss stance, can it be believed that it nukrs • a sinister attack on private rights as . private enterprise ?. Is it not fOstiKs , 1 1 that, outside of mere i»arty politics.-job*' principle of national economy is crircig all parties to a clearer definition Sling's highway? I think it is. Because it Is better to be gawfpd Ey reason than by impulse, by sagacity tUgg > than by prejudice, ! am calmly ' the wnofei matter. Clearly an evoktra ■ . of thought has been incubating for > time, and while the inltids (Motor Omnibus Act) for a jfrejjjgj 1® big bird, it appears to me, for the prs ent, that we have to face up to it. ; I) - deed, mors mature feathers w3lpropaa|i||: be put upon the bird, and thea we.>M.lV;f have reached. another milestone on d? King's highway. Public Eight and Private BigM. In the future, : probably the • pu% right to use the highway wjll aively restrict the individual right, psf ' ticularly in relation to the use of it* . pnblis road or street for private have" recently heard "conunnnily men harangue and ent tendency in our legislation ,as 'rew- , lationary." I have heard the. sains ;«$: Jective used by members of Parliaa.«|t: -iBut is it "revolutionary ?" Is it iici ■ rather "evolutionary ?" - Indeed, Is m ' the talk about the , "freedom of tte /' King's highway," when used to cocswu regulation, fust so much romancing. i Sgajjjjj Was the "King's highway ever • «W» z -i The term .."highway"' is'of date. -The. reference in the . Numbers to the toad through vrhich children of Israel desired to pass is lated in onr version of the Bi.se -g*-.-* "The King's Highly." And ancient days, 1400 years before.: the King of Edom refused io auov fsrge ,: t l!he first roads made in which we haVe record were cauai -:. ; King's highways." The ' term . to have arisen in the time oi-''Mw>Bn% jc king of. the ancient- Britons, creed that there should be roads qt . ■of succour hy which persons who •» - -committed some trespass could n«f ' safety to a temple or other ity, SuA ways were provided. inglv. Those warn- : however,': sufficiently defined, and strife arose consequence. When Belinus, his w; came' King, he defined four >*; .. the longest of which was from to Caithness, and these roads "King's highways." The term vjfcway" was afterwards applied va. any public road that was of size to warrant the title. Even t ' road is often spoken of in popui* r . * guage as "the King's highway. Roads and Toll Gates. . The term ""public highway**. ■ meant, a public way for carnage^.,■ other kinds of traffic, but. : -r"' meant only a bridle track ft? A "tqrnpike road" was. a _f oa(l _ w which a toll gate existed. were called "turnpike gai«s_ some of them had spikes vent persons evading the toil ing or jumping over them. We ceeds from the tolls were struct or maintain the roads o:e which they were placed, or • fcliiey led, and also to recoup to such persons as had advarxea_ to construct or They were usually established by - The term "main road" meant land a road that bad to be ; by a county council, as ;,g a "highway," which must be by a highway board or some thority. or even by private The term "main road" w&3 also to a road that served more tnan local convenience, such as-a'r»a vtwo great towns, or a railway station. -_,«!? ■' The term "street" referred, in England to a road in a resiaec . . urban district, with houses on one side of such street. « fcjA. j Zealand it is generally applied to way in a city or borough. Progressive Eestrictioas. .. The English law says the right® ® ; public once acquired to a V'f j . Tlsis ; ' not in the future he restricted. , law has been somewhat !#*(: £ etricted by New Zealand -J,£^: such as The Municipal Corpora J . The Counties Act, Public WorKS ■ Tramways Act. Motor \ ehides , No Imperial Statutes : passfed a ary 14, 1840. affectiui; the Law ways has any effect in this C ( " This short study v;>uld appea _ r cats that the Motor Omnibus "revolutionary," but rather 3 " =.'':Adf >•' in logical sequence to «•« ?..v, referred to—a sociological-po" * ■: testation of the disfejnee • . % ciety from the old triiiiu days- ;