RETROSPECTIVE SUBSIDIES

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1930, Page 5

RETROSPECTIVE SUBSIDIES

AGITATION BY LOCAL BODIES. VIEWS OF HIGHWAYS BOARD. . The Taranaki province was the first . to adopt modern methods of road con- ; struction, Several of the local bodies, s realising that the macadamised roads could not be economically maintained in ■ a state that would cope with the ever- • increasing demands on them due to the i change from horse-drawn to motor ‘ traffic, decided to lay their roads on modern lines. Accordingly the ratepayers sanctioned loans on which they are paying rates for a lengthy period. Sinc£ . then the Main Highways Board has come into operation and local bodies are receiving a subsidy towards the cost of constructing modern roads. The local bodies that pioneered the movement have been moving in the direction of having the subsidy made retrospective so that their ratepayers should obtain some relief. So far they have not met with success. At yesterday's meeting of the Egmoht County Council a circular letter was received from the Taranaki Local Bodies’ Associatio.. giving a copy of a .reply from the chairman of the Main Highways Board on the subject.. The chairman of the Highways Board stated that it was noted that the Government was to be again urged to amend the Main Highways Act to allow of payments being made to local bodies which raised large sums to build and tar or bitumen seal their main roads prior to their coming under the jurisdiction of the Main Highways Board. The Taranaki Local Bodies’ Association appeared to consider tar-sealing of roads the chief factor in the cost of road construction. Gn analysis it would be found that was the least costly portion of most road construction work, and most county loan expenditure had been incurred for gravel or macadajn roads. In Taranaki it was found that, the maintenance cost of macadam roads was so great that some more economical method had to be found' and tar-sealing was generally, but not entirely, adopted. Most other counties in the .Dominion, having raised loans to construct gravel or macadam roads, were content to carry the burden of maintenance as a county charge. The Taranaki counties in some cases did not do this, but raised loans to seal their roads and then threw a large share of the charges for the loans on to the road user by imposing tolls. When the Main Highways Board commenced operations the Taranaki counties were given special consideration by payments from highways revenue for the abolition of toll-gates, thus relieving the special tax on the road user wlio had previously, relieved the county ratepayer. 'The benefit from the abolition of tolls by one county was also immediately felt in adjoining counties whose ratepayers had been compelled to use the roads of the county having toll-gates. The comparative position, therefore, was that most counties in the Dominion, having constructed their roads out of loan or by rates, were still faced with their share of the cost of sealing or other paving work, which share alone in most cases was greater to-day than the total cost to the Taranaki counties when their work - was done. While every credit must be given to those Taranaki counties that, pioneered the sealing of their roads, the work was done to overcome the excessive cost of macadam maintenance, and not much regard was given, to the improvement of the alignment, curvatures and other improvements which the more intense motor traffic to-day called for. It was safe to say that many demands ■would in the near future be mad'e for improvements- on roads sealed some years ago that would call for heavy expenditure. Taranaki counties with the loans which had been raised had been able to surface a much greater percentage of roads than had other local bodies. In that connection he would refer to the case of one Taranaki county which had not been as fortunate as some of the others. Whangamomona, with the exception of Egmont, had a higher ratio of loan indebtedness to capital value than any other local body that had built tar-sealed roads. Its rates per £lOOO of rateable capital value were higher than those of any other local body in Taranaki, again with the exception of Egmont. Yet Whangamomona had not been able to build any sealed roads. As a matter of fact it had a lower percentage of surfaced roads than any of the Taranaki group. On the line of argument put forward Whangamomona, which was probably least able to bear the burden of loan indebtedness in addition to its other expenses, would receive no assistance.

It had, the letter added, been said in support of the claims for retrospective subsidies that the Taranaki local bodies had effected a considerable saving to the Main Highways Board in the matter of maintenance expenditure, but the Main Highways Board was unable to agree. The Main Highways Board’s annual report would show that since the board commenced operations the cost of maintenance per mile per annum in Taranaki had been higher in each year than the average cost of maintenance in the whole of the Dominion. The Main Highways Board has on various occasions considered the representations for retrospective subsidies, and had gone very thoroughly into the matter, but it regretted that despite further consideration it could see no reason to change its views in the matter, and was therefore unable to support the further representations now being made.