TAXATION FOR ROADS.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16813, 3 June 1926, Page 8

TAXATION FOR ROADS.

(To ihe Editor.) Sir, —Cr. Snell at a recent meeting of the Hamilton Borough Council opened a very big question when he moved that people who drive motors should find SO per cent, of the money j necessary for providing roads, for, i

although Dial was not quite the way in which it was put, that is about the sum of the proposal. While it is possible to agree with the contention that motors do not at present pay (at any rate directly) their due proportion of the cost of new roading, Cr. Snell's views as expressed in the interview published in the Waikato Times of April 27 will not meet with general or complete concurrence. He commences by saying that the old roads gave all the service required, though admitting that the old roads were' wasteful. Against this contention some of the roads in the Hamilton borough three years ago should be remembered, where it was impossible to lake even a baker's delivery cart with any comfort. Surely Cr. Snell would not say that motorists should find 80 per cent, of the money spent to put streets like Claude Street or Killarney Road in their present condition? Is it not a fact that these streets will cost less for upkeep for many years now than if they had merely been patched to keep them in the old "serviceable" condition? It would seem that Ihe saving in annual maintenance charges as compared with the old kind of road should set off a part of the account against the motors for new construction or surfacing. Another point'; which suggests itself is as to who the} owners of the cars or commercial vehicles are? Arc they a new class of people? No, they are the same people who drove to town in a gig or the same carriers whose big teams of horses and heavily loaded waggons formerly used the roads. To change the name of the person does not change the person. Mr Snell's contention regarding a land tax on "people who do not use the roads" is fallacious obviously, as Is his statement that "the average pedestrian has now practically lost the use of the highway," the reason of course being that the pedestrian of former days now most times drives a car, and therefore the "pedestrian" who "pays very dearly" is in most cases not now a pedestrian for the reason that ho now uses his own car or a motor-bus which plys at a cheap rate of fares by reason of the fact that the "pedestrian" has provided a sound road wiicre formerly the bus could not have plied at a!!. He is, therefore, getting his return for his rates in cheaper transit. It is admitted, of course, that road tourist traffic now provides a great deal of j traffic which was practically non- ] existent under old conditions, and it j is necessary to have a fax which will collect a. proper 101 l from such traffic and from the comparatively wide- i roaming motor carrier. It seems to •be safe'to conclude that cars are not | paying as much as they arc likely to j pay in the future, though it is quite ! questionable whether it would be j sound to more heavily tax the com- j mcrcial vehicle, which is already paying a tax considerably greater than j that paid by similar vehicles in Eng- , land. !

Cr. Sasll seems to reveal his real difficulty in his picture of the ratepayers failing to sanction necessary loans, and he, therefore, would tackle the man who can easily be got. at and who would not have an option of "turning it down." It must not be forgotten, however, that whether the ratepayer walks or drives a car, he is still a ratepayer and that he gains considerably by having- good access to his property, thus allowing of cheaper service to him by tradespeople who necessarily use the roads in that service; also, as previously mer.Lioncd, good reads certainly mate a very great deal of difference to the ratepayer in cost and convenience in travelling from one part of the country or town to another by allowing of cheap

Mid efficient bus service. The motorist generally will consider ihat it is right that the motor should directly provide a considerable portion of the money for the improvements of the roads to the standard of modern rerfiii'.cments and, providing it is equitably adjusted so that ear!) pays in accordance win his u:;e of the road, it net likely lo cavil at a tax which aggregates considerably more l-hnrt prcper.i, motor taxation, 0::! h° v.-ir!s io see that money economically col-

fected, economically spent, and, the most important point, ho wishes to have all the taxati-.i collected from him spcnl on roads and on roads only. The motorist would like, in connection with his special taxes, to replace the present much ramified scheme with one which would provide for a single tax-collecting body and a single taxspending hody—one such as the English Ministry of Transport. Finally, the motorist would like to have roads and vehicles controlled by one Act of Parliament instead of the three or four which at present are used for this purpose, these being made further confusing by the huge number of regulations made under these Acts, <vhich regulations arc added to by almost every Gazette published.—l am, etc., CHASSIS.