Tenacious Local Bodies

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 667, 20 May 1929, Page 8

Tenacious Local Bodies

Will Cling to Heavy Traffic Fees BH 1 Parliament is asked during the coining session to abolish 1 heavy-traffic fees oil commercial vehicles, local bodies in most parts of the country, as well as the Main Highways Board, will advance a spirited protest. The claims of these organisations are based largely upon considerations of finance for the construction and maintenance of good roads.

TN the eyes of the average local authority, the heavy motor-lorry is the enemy of good roads. The money secured from the heavy traffic fees, it is claimed, is not commensurate with the damage done by the truck of exceptional weight upon even the well constructed street, while in the country districts, where concrete roads are the exception rather than the rule, macadam surface suffers severely beneath the heavy wheels of the five-ton truck. -in and around Auckland, local bodies are emphatically opposed to any reduction in heavy traffic fees, as advocated by the Master Carriers’ Federation on behalf of commercial vehicle owners. The effect of the levy in discouraging the big lorry Is considered a worthy feature of the taxation, while the prospect of these bodies losing the revenue derived from this source does not appeal to them. DAMAGE TO ROADS “The comparatively few fast-moving hed.vy motor-lorries do far more damage to the roads than the great mass of private motor-cars,” declared the town clerk of Onehunga, Mr. H. A. Yockney, expressing the opinions of his council. “Lorries over four tons are the principal agents in destroying the roads,” he added. “My council put down macadam roads six months ago, and now the surface is being knocked to pieces by these heavy vehicles.” It is recalled that, toward the end of last year, the Public Works Department circularised local bodies seeking their views upon the heavy traffic fees. Most of them replied in a strain similar to that of the Onehunga Borough Council, which registered the following resolution at the time: “ . . . . The conclusion the council and staff have come to with respect to the damage caused to the roads is that there is absolutely no comparison between the damage caused by the fastmoving heavily-laden lorry -and by other motor-vehicles using the same amount of petrol; further, that a much heavier class of road construction has been necessitated by these heavy lorries.” Other boroughs in this district claim that the amount received in revenue from heavy traffic fees will not ap-

proacli tlie sum required to repair the roads. In isolated instances, such as Newmarket borough, the removal of heavy traffic fees from the revenue account would deprive the councils of motoring revenue altogether. Newmarket does not derive any money from the allocation of petrol tax, although the traffic passing through its area is probably as thick as in any part of Queen Street. Tallies at Broadway, Newmarket, have, in fact, shown that over a period of eight hours, 1,200 motor-vehicles pass a given point, and at peak times 40 cars a minute are ticked off by the recorder. Devonport borough, with comparatively little traffic, receives about £1,500 from the petrol tax; Onehunga takes something like £1,400; Newmarket, though spending from £70,000 to £BO,OOO on its concrete roads, gets nothing. The special rate on its concrete road is Is in the £. The return from the heavy traffic fees is lid in the £—between £4OO and £SOO annually. REVENUE FOR ROADS Counties, too, object to the removal of the heavy traffic fees, possibly because they foresee a consequent alteration in the allocation of petrol tax for road maintenance. The counties’ case, however, was concisely put by their representative at Wellington some time ago: “So long as the local body revenue is not affected,” they said, “we have no objection to relief being granted.” Objections will come from the Main Highways Board, as well, as here again the revenue derived from the fees plays a big part in the administration ] of the board’s affairs. Against this, it is claimed that the Main Board possesses more money than it can use on its apportioned programme —a sum of £2,136,573 available in its revenue account for the current year, and a balance of £72,570 brought forward to this year in its construction account. The Ministry of Transport is struggling valiantly with the question of motoring taxation, and the Minister has promised, among other things, to rectify certain anomalies regarding heavy traffic, when every phase is reviewed during the coming Parliament.