Taranaki Daily News. FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 1921. MAIN ROADS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 August 1921, Page 4

Taranaki Daily News. FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 1921. MAIN ROADS.

It is satisfactory to note that the Government’s Main Arterial Roads Bill is not only attracting the attention of public bodies, but its principle is being discussed, more particularly in relation to the vexed question of toll-gates on those main highways which will form the connecting link between the arterial roads and the rest of the country. The more the question is studied, the greater seems to be the difficulty of finding a solution of the loading problem. It may be taken for granted that roads which are to be relegated to the contfol of the proposed Arterial Roads Board will be known as national roads, all the other highways being local thoroughfares. It is quite plain that all local bodies will still have to bear the responsibility for the upkeep of the present roads, except where an arterial rriad passes through a county, and it is equally evident that where an arterial road passes through a borough the citizens will be heavily burdened, but that is inevitable unless a material alteration is made in the proposed Bill, and that is hardly likely. The natural tendency of each local body is to view this roading problem from its own particular financial aspect, and to draw comparisons between its own burdens and those of its neighbors. Especially is this the case in relation to the operation of tollgates and the revenue derived therefrom. Obviously, if the new arterial roads scheme becomes law, it will alter the whole problem of highway finance, for it is not to be expected that the ownera of motor vehicles should be called upon to pay not only the duty on tyres, the license fees imposed by the arterial board, and the local bodies, their share of general taxation —Government and local —but also be subjected to toll-gate charges in every direction. The aggregate of these burdens would be so intolerable that it would kill motor traffic and ruin an industry that materially adds to the progress and prosperity ofl- the Dominion. The proposed Roads Bill does not aim at solving the roading problem; it only creates certain national roads, and leaves the main question more complex than before. If motor traffic is to provide the chief source of finance for the arterial roads, it would seem that it must be relieved of all liability in respect of tolls, so that toll-gates would only exist to collect fees from horse-drawn vehicles, and would then cost far more than they gathered in. Local bodies would do well to consider this new aspect and endeavor to agree upon some just and fair scheme for road maintenance other than by toll receipts. A moment’s reflection should convince them that there is a limit of endurance beyond which motorists cannot go, besides which toll-gates have already been condemned as an antiquated and unjust system.

what can only be described as the disadvantages attached to a one-man Government. In spite of all the muchvaunted system of democracy in the Dominion, the Premier has come to be regarded as practically a dictator, instead of a leader of the party in power. Any -foreign visitor to New Zealand may well be excused for ridiculing the idea that the country is governed by the people for the. people. The whole business of Parliament is held up because the head of the Government is absent, and there is no one to take his place, inasmuch as the Acting-Premier is not a member of the House of Representatives. Sir Francis Bell contends there can only be one Premier. No one disputes that, the point at issue being whether the Premier is to be vested with such exceptional power and dominance that the affairs of the country must stand still unless he is on the spot to dictate the Government’s policy. If this is to be the rule, the system reduces the other members of the Cabinet to the position of mere puppets. The matter is one of principle, and applies generally to any Premier, but it is a wrong principle, the outcome of party politics. Sir Francis Bell’s solution recognises this ’by proposing to hold up party politics—in other words, to protect the party in power from being defeated by an adverse vote that might entail resignation, and it also implies the exceptional power which the 'Premier is supposed to wield, and as a matter of fact does wield. Fortunately, this power is generally exercised for good, but it is none the less antagonistic to the spirit of the age, besides being undemocratic. One-man Government may have its advantages under exceptional circumstances, but it fosters bureaucratic supremacy and inflates national expenditure. If Sir Francis Bell’s views on the deputy-Preraiership are sound, the logical sequence would ‘be to abolish Parliament. and hand the Government over to one man, assisted by half-a-dozen paid secretaries. Tt is better to have a reality than a sham.