MAIN HIGHWAYS

Southland Times, Issue 20538, 14 July 1928, Page 7

MAIN HIGHWAYS

ALLOCATION OF PETROL TAX. INVERCARGILL AREA iL) GET £50,000. Before the afternoon session of the County Council yesterday Mr A. Tyndall, engineer to the Main Highways Board, who paid a flying visit to Invercargill, took the opportunity to meet the members of the council and discuss with them the allocation of the petrol tax. The council went into committee to discuss the business, but after the meeting was over Mr Tyndall made a statement to the Press, outlining the policy of the Highways Board and the system of administration of the moneys collected under the tax. One quarter of the petrol tax, he said» amounting to about £lBO,OOO per annum, was devoted to subsidizing those local authorities whose areas immediately surrounded the more important centres of population, the definition of a centre for lhe purpose of the board being any town containing over 6000 inhabitants. In places containing under 6000 inhabitants, such as Riverton, the board would subsidize work inside their boundaries on a £ for £ basis for construction work or a 30/- for £1 basis for maintenance work. He went on to say that motorists in such a centre as Invercargill were paying a considerable amount in petrol tax. As many desirable roads should be made as was possible. and the preferential subsidy helped the town motorist and the county council, the former reaping the benefit of the tax, whilst the burden of upkeep was removed from the latter. Only 8 per cent, of the petrol tax was allocated to boroughs containing over 6000 inhabitants, and the local borough council was forced to spend that portion in road work as approved by the Highways Board. The board was framing a general programme for the next four or five years, based on the money available in proportion to the population. The total money available for this phase of the work for the year was about £270,000 for the whole Dominion. Under the scheme provided the provincial area round Invercargill would get about £50,000 within the next four or five years, of which the Highways Board would find about 75 per cent. A tentative scheme for the expenditure of this money had been prepared and at an early date would be submitted to the Number 18, District Highway Council and to lhe Southland Motor Association for comment and criticism. After that, the scheme would be referred to the Main Highways Board anti would be adopted either in its entirety or with modifications. The money was to be spent in the provision of a higher class of surfacing than gravel, the idea of the £3 for £1 subsidy being to provide a high grade road for motorists who were paying a substantial amount for upkeep and improvement of the highways system. Similar schemes have been prepared in other centres on similar lines to those operating in Southland. Twenty-five per cent, of the petrol tax is set out to go towards the maintenance of secondary highways, 3400 of which have already been declared; 25 per cent, is set aside to enable the present subsidy of 30/for £1 towards the upkeep of the original main highways; 25 per cent, for radial roads, about 4 per cent, for assisting the construction and maintenance of boroughs containing a population of under 6000; eight per cent, to boroughs containing over 6000 inhabitants, and the remainder to go towards paying the interest and sinking fund on loans raised for construction purposes on main highways. Mr Tyndall leaves for Dunedin by the express to-day.