COST OF NATIONAL ROADS

Taranaki Daily News, 8 May 1930, Page 13

COST OF NATIONAL ROADS

BOARD SPENT MILLION IN 1929. INCREASED PETROL TAX URGED. By Telefiranh —Press Association Auckland; Last Night. Highway matters were referred to by the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, at a conference of the Franklin District Chamber of Commerce at' Papakura. The Minister said the time was ripe for some re-adjustment of roadino. finance on the lines of the users of the roads shouldering their due responsibility. Last year the Highways Board had expended £1,000,600 on highway maintenance and construction. This was its heaviest expenditure in any one year to date and it was expected the amount would increase. With road transport being now almost wholly py motor, money to meet the demands would need to be found from this source, the principle of rating the land being no longer tenable to the degree it had been in the past. Mr. Ransom said he hoped to submit to Parliament in the coming session proposals designed to place more financial responsibility on the Highways Board, especially in the case of highways passing through ridings. The conference unanimously carried a remit urging that all main arterial roads should be nationalised and controlled by the Highways Board and that to provide funds for this purpose the petrol tax should be increased.