The Taranaki Herald PUBLISHED DAILY THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1893.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 9759, 26 July 1893, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald PUBLISHED DAILY THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1893.

«. There is no good attempting to disguise the fact that good roads come under the head of " luxuries," and must be paid for one way or another. They, however, come tinder the head of "necessary luxuries," and, therefore, the only practical conclusion to be arrived at is who 3hall find the money for their construction. As a rule, a good road improves the properties on either side. The owners of those properties, therefore, as well as the proprietors of adjacent lands, have an interest in maintaining it. The people who live beyond it and use it occasionally are interested in it, less directly perhaps, but not less really. A good road signifies economy — cheap produce and personal comfort — and economy of time is also economy of means. The Government are interested in it because it give 3an extra value to Crown Land and facilitates the work of which they have special chaige as a political organisation. In this colony the position of the Government is the more embarrassing because the interests in different portions of the islands are opposed to each other. Some of the Road Boards in the South Island, owing to their baring been lavishly endowed when the provinces were in existence, had money out at interest besides good roads and bridges throughout the district when tho abolition of the Provinces took place. "Wo, however, suppose tbat most of the money has by this time been spent, and the roads and bridges arc now getting out of repair. In tho North Island, owing to the natives owning the greater portion of tho territory, the local bodies were not so fortunato as their Southern neighbours, and consequently they have always been kept in an im^»Terishcd Bfcate. Nothing can be more correct in principle than to apply a considerable portion of the land fund towards the construction and maintenance of roads, and tbe distribution in most cases should be in tho districts where the revenue is raised. Before the provinces were abolished the local authorities had tbe disposal of the land and the control of tbe funds de-

rived from its sale. They also took charge of the main roads, and kept thorn in repair. This duty was transferred to the Counties when they were created, but the general Government took good care not to pass over with the responsibility the land revenue the Provincial authorities had previously had the spending of. We are inclined to think that the main lines of roads will never be kept in proper order until the General Government take them over. It is true that if the Government took over the public roads and the ordinary revenue was appliel to their repair, every taxpayer would, of course, have a right to set up an equal claim to consideration, and it would become incumbent on the Ministry to show tbat propositions which affect the general revenue would be of advantage to the entire community, and that one locality was not being sacrificed to promote the convenience and profit of another. The revenue from the Land Tax which is now being imposed might be used, but then the Government requires that fund for other purposes. If the General Government took tho main lines of road over, thon that antiquated and wasteful way of raising money by tollgates conH be abolished. Tolls are a clumsy mode of collecting revenue, for comparatively only a small portion of the money so raised finds its way on to the road, and if only to prevent this waste of money it would be advisable for the Government to take tho roads over. New Zealand, unfortunately, is overdone with local Govc-n-ment. If, when Provincialism was abolished, the Government had been content to allow the Road Boards to attend to the bye-roadi, letting the colony take over the main roada, the present difficulty would not have arisen. It is very certain that either the Counties will havo to be abolished, or tho Road Boards amalgamated, for under the present system the management of so many bodies is nothing but waste of money, which might be more usefully employed on the roads. In the Provincial District of Taranaki there aro four Counties, three Boroughs, six Town Districts, and twenty- seven Road Boards, and the revenues and expensos for management of tho same for the year ending March 31, 1892, may be summarised as follows :—: — No. ReveniM Management S> £ Counties ... 4 11,249 4103 Boroughs ... 3 5,982 785 Town districts 6 1,641 452 Road Boon's 27 7,076 949 40 £25,948 £6289 We have not added the figures to be found in the table under tbe head of " other expenditure," but they tot up to a little more than " Management. " We think it will be generally acknowledged that it costs a very large sum to spend so little money. If it was all spent on the roads no one could complain, but it does not ; and it is, therefore, a great pity some more economical form of local government cannot be devised.