LOCAL PETROL LEVY

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28266, 2 May 1957, Page 12

LOCAL PETROL LEVY

Opposition To Proposal

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, May 1. “We’ve got to fight this thing tooth and nail,” said the president (Mr W. H. Brown) at the North Island Motor Union council meeting today when the proposal to levy a penny a gallon on petrol in the Auckland area to help pay for Auckland’s “master transport plan” was. discussed. Mr W. J. Parlour (Auckland) said the Auckland Automobile Association was also fighting the levy proposition although the unquestionable need for transport development for the city and environs was fully recognised. The total cost of the scheme was estimated at £14,700,000. Several local bodies in the area had already expressed opposition to the levy, he said. Mr Parlour said the proposition was that the National Roads Board find three-quarters of the cost and the levy the remaining quarter. That meant that road users, who would be by no means the only ones to benefit from the plan, would in fact pay the entire cost. If approved in principle, the scheme could be applied from one end of the country to the other, he said.

The meeting adopted a motion of absolute opposition to the levy, proposed by Mr T. M. N. Rodgers, Manawatu. On the ground that the principle was important, the council also resolved that a deputation including the presidents of the North and South motor unions ask to see the Prime Minister, to urge strongly that no such suggestion should ever be entertained, by the Government.

Hungarians in Austria.—According to the Save the Children Fund, 30,000 Hungarian refugees are expected to remain in Austria. To help the Austrian Government, the fund has set aside more than £lBl,OOO in cash and £277,000 worth of goods. The fund considers that the Government will need considerable help to meet the long-term problem of finding homes and work for the refugees.