THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1928. THE PETROL TAX.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20355, 12 March 1928, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1928. THE PETROL TAX.

It is a gratifying announcement which we arc able to publish this morning respecting the question of the allocation of the proceeds of the petrol tax. A week ago it did not appear that the prospects of satisfaction for the South Island were at all bright. In his recent address the Minister of Finance, referring to Southern grievances, said there was a complete answer to the suggestion that an injustice was being done to the South Island in relation to the petrol tax. That did not sounfl very promising. However, the visit of the Prime Minister to Dunedin has been timely, and, to the perseverance of Mr Ansell, president of the South Island Motor Union, and to the open-minded attitude manifested by Mr Ccates himself, an understanding on this vexed question has now been reached which is calculated to allay all apprehension respecting the safeguarding of the interests of the South Island. The Prime Minister has undertaken that, as soon as the recommendations of the Highways Board regarding secondary roads come to hand, the Government will ascertain the average maintenance cost per mile of road, and, before the roads are gazetted, will endeavour to see that the allocation of the petrol tax will approximately conform with the number of vehicles in each island. That is what the motorists of the South Island have been asking for. The qualification “ approximately ” is presumably introduced to meet the circumstance that the roads in the North carry a greater number of heavy vehicles than those in the South, and, as the heavier vehicles are the larger users of petrol, it is urged on the part of the Government that the number of vehicles alone should not be the deciding factor in the allocation. That seems to be a fair argument. The main consideration is that Mr Coates has given his assurance that the principle for which the South Island has been fighting will be adopted in the allocation of the petrol tax. The concession means a great deal to the South Island, arid it means something to the Government also. There was never any doubt of the strength of the feeling in the South that an injustice was being done in the refusal of the Government to recognise the logic ol the claim that the allocation of the proceeds of the petrol tax should be regulated by the principle which is applicable by law to the distribution of the proceeds of the tyre tax. It was a great surprise to discover that the principle prescribed is the Highways Act was not to be adhered to in respect of the petrol tax, and the reasons advanced for a departure fx'om it were, of course, most unconvincing. It was in the name of reason that the South Island appealed for a distinct underst o .ling respecting the manner in which, in the expenditure of the revenue derived from the petrol tax, its interests would he safeguarded. Its request was no more than a fair one, and Mr Coates has shown fairness in now recognising the force cf the representations made to him on the subject. The bodies in the South Island which have exerted their influence in the direction of securing justice for that portion of the Dominion in this matter will fed that they have not made protest in vain. The president of the South Island Motor Union is to be congratulated on the outcome of his personal efforts during the past week in conference with the Prime Minister, and it is a highly satisfactory outcome of Mr Coates’s visit that he has been able to find time, amid much pressure of business, to go into this question and make so clear the sincerity of his desire to hold the balance evenly between the two islands. The battle over i lie petrol tax is settled, wo take it, and in a manner honourable both to the Government and to the South Island.