MAIN HIGHWAYS SYSTEM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20362, 17 September 1929, Page 8

MAIN HIGHWAYS SYSTEM.

Jt, was natural that, surveying the political situation yesterday, the Leader of the Opposition should have referred to what is being done by the Government to curtail the finances of the Main Highways Board. It is a subject Mr. Coates handles authoritatively, having been in such great measure the author and initiator of the system. One point he made was especially effective. It had been said, Mr. Coates remarked, that an interpretation of the Act by the Crown Law Office upheld the course the Government was taking, but, he said, the interpretation of the Act should be by the representatives of the people in Parliament. In other words, the finances of the board arc being interfered with on a legal technicality, whereas any variation in the original undertaking should have the sanction of Parliament. This is the essence of Mr. Coates' observation, and it is entirely justified. Another point he raised is equally worth noting. Ilecalling how the scale of subsidies to local authorities had steadily risen, Mr. Coates said a point had been reached where there was a prospect of lightening the heavy burden cast on rural land and industry by local rates. To do that was one of the main objectives of the highways system. The work done and planned by the Highways Board could never have been financed out of rates alone. The provision of its wider financial resources has augmented the funds available for road construction and maintenance. Once they arc depleted cither the pace must slacken or the rates must rise. In any event the possibility of a reduction disappears. How burdensome rules can be to industry was fully disclosed when the derating scheme of Ihe late Government in Great Britain was given legislative effect. Among other things it exempted agricultural land entirely from rates. The chief argument was that rates were levied without any reference to prosperity or depression in the industries to which they were charged—in other words, regardless of the capacity to pay. That point is equally applicable to New- Zealand. The cost of production is cited as one of the conditions pressing most heavily on primary industry. The high level of taxation, including local rates, figures largely among the costs. To the extent that it threatens a postponement of possible rating, relief to rural land, the Government's interference with main highways finance is reprehensible, just as it is open to attack as a departure from the understanding with the motoring public when special tuxes were imposed on them. Mr. Coates was fully justified in indicting it.