RAIN HIGHWAYS

Southland Times, Issue 19277, 23 June 1924, Page 6

RAIN HIGHWAYS

FUNCTIONS OF BOARD. PROPOSED TAX OF £2 FOR EACH CAR. A review of the objects and aims of th® ) Main Highways Board, and the manner m which the funds of the Board will be raised and administered was given at a luncheon on Thursday, organised by the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce by Mr M. H. Wynyard, a member of the Board. Incidentally Mr Vynyard indicated the tax provided for under the proposed new Motor Vehicles Bill. A good deal of misapprehension still apl>eared to exist with regard to the operation of the Highways Board, said Mr Wynyard, and he welcomed the opportunity of discussing the proposal. A working partnership between local bodies and the Highways Board was arranged by the Act. The Board had no jx)wer of initiative. The initiative must all come from local bodies. The Board would subsidise the construction of highways to the extent of 50 per cent, and the cost of maintenance of highway? to the extent of one-third. In cases where roads were unmetalled and local bodies collected but few rates from adjoining land, the rate of contribution by the Board would be considerably increased. The Board invited local bodies to fend in their proposals concerning the construction and maintenance of highways running through counties as soon as possible, said Mr Wynyard, as the Board desired to prepare its estimates. The Board’s finances would be derived from a tyre tax, which was shortly expected to aggregate £300,000. The Government had undertaken to allot £2,000,000 for construction and £35,000 for maintenance, while money allotted tothe construction and maintenance of Government roads would be diverted to the Board. Under the proposed Motor Vehicles Bill a tax of £2 per car would be imposed, which would realise about £lOO,OOO, while it was proposed to collect an annual driver’s license fee of 5/-. The Board had authority to borrow £3,000,000, which it would raise at the rate of £300,000 per annum. It proposed to deal with 6200 miles of road, and its revenue was expected to reach £600,000 per annum.

The point that the Board desired to cooperate with and assist local bodies in every way was stressed by the speako*. The Board had arranged for the use of the Government laboratory for the testing of bitumen, and for the services of experts of thf Mines Department in testing the quality of road metal. The Board had also giver attention to the road traffic problem. A the present time the position was chaotic On one hand some local bodies could no*, control heavy traffic, and their roads wer® being cut to pieces. On the other nand some local bodies imposed heavy license fees, with the result that severe restriction/ and heavy expense were imposed upon tbi owners of vehicles. The Board had arranged, for the classification of roads, and for specification of loads the roads could carry,. The idea was not to allow traffic on a road which the road was not made to bear.

Replying to criticism offered at a meeting of the Waitomo County Council last week with regard to proposals in the Motor Vehicles Bill, Mr Wynyard denied that the provisions would bear lightly on the town dweller at the expense of the country settler. The town dweller had to contribute towards the cost of constructing and maintaining country roads under the Highways Act, which did not provide for work on the streets of a town. He considered that the Highways Act would enable county councils to devote more money to the subsidiary roads of the county than they had previot ly been able to do.