The Taranaki Herald. (DAILY EVENING.) TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 1914. TOLL CATES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 144358, 24 March 1914, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. (DAILY EVENING.) TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 1914. TOLL CATES.

The vexed question of toll gates was discussed at considerable length at the Eltham conference on Saturday, but without much result beyond the passing of a resolution urging the Government to bring in legislation to secure a more equitable adjustment of the boundaries of existing counties with a view to a community of interest and the general benefit of the New Zealand taxpayers. Toll gates are an unpopular means of raising revenue for road maintenance, though there is something to be said in favour of them. They have more than once saved the financial situation for the Taranaki County Council and enabled it to place its roads in fair order. Wo suppose there are few who will not agree that it is better to have toll gates and good roads than no gates and had roads. Those have been the alternatives for Taranaki ratepayers to choose between, and they have elected to have the toll gates. There is this also to he said for toll gates, that they compel people using the roads to contribute to their maintenance who would not otherwise do so, and especially is this the case with motor-car owners, many of whom pay little or nothing by way of road rates here or elsewhere, yet take a great deal out of the roads and are ever demanding better roads. The percentage of cost of collecting this class of revenue is generally heavy, but it collects many pounds that would otherwise be lost altogether. The chief weakness of the system, however, as applied in Taranaki, is that it penalises one district to the advantage of another. The Taranaki County Council's gate at Puniho, lor instance, levies toll upon the ratepayers of the adjoining coun-

• for the maintenance of the Taranaki county roads whenever they travel over them. The same gate taxes Taranaki county ratepayers who travel into the Egmnnt county. In other words, the Egmont county ratepayer must pay for using the Taranaki county rond, while the Taranaki county ratepayer has the free use of the Egmont county road. The Egmont county might retaliate by erecting a, , gate just within its boundaries, but it

would tax its own ratepayers far more heavily than those of the Taranaki county, for the traffic is chiefly in the direction of the port and the chief centre of the district. This principle of retaliation may he carried to absurd lengths. The Stratford County Council has seriously discussed the question of erecting toll gates neat the county boundaries in several places to compel foreign traffic to contribute to the maintenance of the local roads. If this principle is allowed to extend we may have a country dotted with 101 l gates, making the cost of using ilre* roads almost prohibitive. Tim suggested remedy of readjusting county boundaries will be only partial in its effect; the real remedy lies in main arterial roads being maintained by the General Government, which might levy special taxes on motor spirit and motor vehicles to help raise revenue for road maintenance. The average motor vehicle owner does not, object to pay for good roads, though he may make a detour to avoid a gate if this is possible, but he does object to pay a toll on a bad road. In all progressive districts the difficulty of maintaining roads good enough for motor traffic is becoming more acute every year, but the remedy is certainly not the multiplication of toll gates, for the more gates there are the greater becomes the cost of collection. It may be taken for granted that motor traffic can afford to pay for good roads, for had roads mean heavy expense in the way of repairs, renewal of tyres, loss of time, etc., and if an equitable system of levying the necessary taxation were adopted we do not think owners of motor vehicles would have any ground of complaint. The system of tolls in one county and none in the next is not equitable, but a system under which the General Government, was responsible for all main roads and collected special revenue through the medium of a tax on motor spirit and motor vehicles would he fair to all. The ordinary road rates would he then available for maintenance of by-roads, which are in need of more care and expenditure.