MOTORS AND ROADS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 144360, 26 March 1914, Page 4

MOTORS AND ROADS.

TO ilir EBJTOU. Sir. —The question us to what extent the motor user should contribute towards road upkeep is no now one. but in iixuig a rate of any sort it should (i!tk• ( cartainiy he a lair one. ami not a vindictive means ol collecting revo'.uc, it is true that motor .spirit and benzine are taxed in England. but even toon llie motorist is able to purchase ai a very much lower cost than obtains here, and finds the price excessive. So nmch so that benzole, a .substitute obtained Irom coal, which is cheaper. is fa.si misting petrol of all ..oris. Here at. roughly, 'As per gallon the moioi ise is already paying more llian enough, and I sincerely trust that any au-empt (o raise roieuue by further taxing this commodity will bo screnumi.dv resisted by the motorists U New Zea’ai d ill ?i body. Tile fairest way of .axing minors i.> according lu hoisi-power. ami ihs.s is the direct manner employed at Home, the ILA.C. ,a;i;ig iormul.'i b*dng t’ne .-nanaard employed in caleuluung same. Now. ;*dr, motors only do a proportionate amount in wearing out roads, and so, if they are to Im taxed, arc other users of the loads to be exempt, and if so. whyr Waggon*, milk carts, coaches, gigs and buggies, to say nothing ol travelling cjutie, aU contribute their quota towards cutting up the roads, and. he it noted, they arc as destructive in wet as in fine wcatlmr. whereas no motor ever him a wee road yet. 1 have driven nil sorts of vehicles on those roads for years, and speak from experience. It seems to me that, to he fair, if motors are to bo taxed, that a wheel lax on other vciiicls should ho imposed also, ami trust that, motorist* all over New Zealand will combine to prevent themselves being exploited. It is a very moot point, also, whether motors do as much damage to dry roads as they get credit for doing; personally I think it is more a question of metal and good road-making. Take the South Hoad, for instance, to Opunakc. a particularly villainous piece. Soil ami easily pulverised river boulders bare been used as metal here, and the consequence is Hint the iron-shod indue smashes the stones to powder, part of whieh washes away, some is sucked out and dispersed by the underdraft of passing motors; but a wind like the Invest infliction clears out more blinding than six months' heavy motor traffic would do. The result is that she road is no longer watertight, pot holes form, and the road breaks up. As a coiurasi. take the rremii roads. Th cy carry a largo traffic ol all sorts, but the shell rocK of which they are composed floes not pulverise in the same way, and therefore the surface remains, and the road eomimuss waterproof and good. Xo. Sir, motor owners are prepared to pay a fair share towards good loads, but they do not intend to keep the roads in order for the rest of the community; and by. a fair share I do not mean an outrageous impost such ns obtains at present at certain toll gales, and which amounts to nothing short of legalised brigandage. Finally, Sir, allow me to suggest to motorists generally that the time is now opportune for the formation of a Now Zealand Automobile Association for their mutual protection, especially as the general altitude of the non-inotor community seems to he *’ ’Ere rome.s a toff. Bill, let’s ’cave ’arf a brick at ’im.”— I am, etc., AX OLD DRIVEN.