AUSTRALIAN ROADS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 78, Issue 7016, 7 February 1949, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN ROADS

GREATER ALLOCATION OF PETROL TAX NEEDED ALL-WEATHER SURFACING That there is sound reason behind the urging by Australian automobile organisations that revenue annually collected by the Federal Government from the petrol tax of lOid per gallon should be allocated solely to road development and improvement is revealed by the huge mileage of the Nation’s highways that are unsuitable for motor vehicles under all weather conditions. The following figures, says a motoring journel, tell a story of a tremendous road development programme shreiking for attention, and the expenditure annually of all the £17,000,000 accruing from the petrol tax on the betterment of the Nation’s highways. New South Wales has 128,475 milefc of roads of which 33,900 are suitable for motor travel under all weather conditions. Victoria, 106,733 miles—-all-weather roads aggregate 29,800. Queensland, 121,885 (6133). South Australia, 52,807 (15,070). Tasmania, 13,104 (8932). West Australia, 3062 (2040), has 25,202 miles of formed roads and 34,467 miles unprepared

but used for general traffic, all of which are included in the 71,449 miles of known length of roads in existence.