THE WEIGHT OF COUNTY RATES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20656, 30 August 1930, Page 14

THE WEIGHT OF COUNTY RATES.

Sir, —The Kumeu District Ratepayers' Association Las requested me to placu before your readers the serious burden the operations of the Highways Board arij placing on the ratepayers of the Kumeu Riding, Waitemata County. When Mr. Coates created the Highways Board and put 4d per gallon on petrol, it. was witli the idea of giving some relief to ths country ratepayers. In our riding exactly the reverse has been the case. Twenty miles of main road goes through our riding, and there are also over 100 miles of sido roads. Our rates total 2jd in the pound, which results iii some of our dairy farmers paying 10s per acre for county rates, and. at least one settler, oil a small holding, is paying 13s per acrs rates, with only a mud road leading to his place. During 1928 our general ra'.s realised £2IOO. Out of this £1750 was spent on the main highways, leaving our riding member £350 with which to ke»ip passable over 100jniles of side roads, ard it is the side roads in this riding which carry most of the produce of the farm and orchards to the railway. The exact amount of our rates spent on the main highways during the last year or two is not available, but it is known that about three-fourths of the total rate is spent on these 20 miles of highway. With fall* itig values for primary products it |S impossible for our farmers to carry on without loss, unless costs of • production can be reduced, and one of the most urgent needs is a reduction of the burden of county council rates. Now roads must be maintained, and the only sensiola way to reduce tlie rates on the farming lands is to make the. users pay for ths roads. To make the users pay, put wheel tax on horse-drawn vehicles, H'" crease the tax on petrol to Is per gallon with the present exemptions, and you can then derate the farming land# and will have taken a most important step to restore prosperity to our country, because, until costs are reduced and our primary producers are allowed a fair return for their labour, there can be no real prosperity in the cities and tovns. The farmers are quite willing to pay their fair share toward the upkeep of our roads, and if Is per gallon was pu on the benzine, we should pay? on all goods, either sent from or carried to our farms, and in addition those rura dwellers who own motor vehicles won be paying the Is per gallon tax. * l9 owners of motor• vehicles used for <" m mercial purposes would pass on the tas> and the real users of the roads would pa>1 put it to your town readers, what rM objection can there be to the uscis pfJ'PI? for the roads? If a spirit of gi^ c an take prevailed and the Is tax came m, should be possible to abolish the tail P tyres mndo within the Empire, leaving heavy tax on foreign-made tyres, and reduce the registration fee to a mciey nominal one. ( . L. Davis-Vice-president, Kumeu District payers' Association.