MOTORISTS SHOULD PAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 749, 23 August 1929, Page 10

MOTORISTS SHOULD PAY

HOLDING OF HIGHWAYS FUND DEFENDED “NO HARDSHIPS INFLICTED” (The SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter J PARLIAMENT BLDGS., Thurs. Denial that hardship was being inflicted by the withdrawal of £200,000 from the Main Highways* Board funds was made in the House today by the Prime M inister. Sir Joseph said that the sum. in the first place, was a scift to motorists. They should be ready to contribute to the revenue of .the country, and, after all, £200.000 was a small amount for an organisation that had the sympathy and goodwill of the Government to forgo. The Government was animated by no other desire than to do what was best in the interests of the country. The raiding of various public funds by Sir Joseph Ward in his search tor increased revenue formed a large part of the speech of Mr. D. Jones (Mid-Canterbury) in the House this evening. Mr. Jones claimed that the deficit was not carried forward, but had been absorbed by past surpluses, although Sir Joseph Ward, interjecting, told him he did not know what he was talking about. Next he dealt with payments withheld and kept in the Consolidated Fund, mentioning particularly amounts for the road maintenance fund, Public Trust funds, main highways’ interest funds, Samoan military police costs, and Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Loan Account. Payments in all of these, he said, amounted to £325,00. If a private member could dig up so many figures, how many other amounts must there be? He did not suggest that anything was wrong, but, judging from the smile on the Prime Minister’s face, there were other sums. Sir Joseph Ward’s own figures in the Budget proved that he could balance the Budget without recourse to extra taxation.

Sir Joseph: Your figures might. (Laughter.) Mr. Jones said that he was using Sir Joseph Ward’s own figures, and he suggested that he was correct in his judgment. Mr. Jones went on to say that the taking of £35,000 from the road maintenance account, and £200,000 from the Main Highways Board, was contrary to the Main Highways Act. Sir Joseph Ward was raiding the funds of the country farmers and motorists. He was taking £235,000 from the main highways and ratepayers, and farmers would have to pay. Sir Joseph Ward: Nonsense! The Highways Board had to pay interest on the £200,000, and that was why the Government had withdrawn the sum.