COST OF ROADS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 266, 6 August 1919, Page 2

COST OF ROADS

THE MAYOR ON THE BETTERMENT PRINCIPLE.

From' America tho City Engineer (Mr. W H. Morton) has written to the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke, i 1 1 ,.), stating that as n rule the line roods in the States, are maintained by land owners, whose property abuts on such roads (a statement whio'h has to bo read in conjunction with another made- in the same communication, viz., that one in every twelve adults possesses ft motor-car). Referring to tho foregoing ■ statement, the Mayor stated yesterday to a Dominion reporter that tho idea of adjacent property owners bearing the cost of the maintenance of roads was not a new one. It was a method of financing road construction nnd maintenance whioh did exist in England years ago, and for all he know existed to-day, wtten, for the pnrposo mentioned, the properties abutting on to a road met in the middle of that road, and maintenance was ft charge upon the. property-owners concerned. Whether that was general he could not Bay, but it wns the rule in quite a number of places. The conditions xvcro different in Wellington. When the town of Wellington was originally laid out by the surveyors of tho Wellington Land Company, the streets— altogether some 1100 acres of land—were dedicated as public roads, and have been tho care of the local authority over since. One- of tho reasons why some of the streets were mndo so narrow is said to have been because the company found that it had allocated more land in the town boundaries to its shareholders than was found to exist, and to keep faith a, curtailment had to be made in the width of tho streets. Aβ tho city extended, and other areas of land were brought in, the owners of such land had. to form and dedicate tho roads before they wero taken over by tho City Council. Any departure which may have 'been made from that system had been for tho public weal, and not for the benefit of the owners. Personally ho did not think in tho wildest flight of fancy that owners of property in the city streets would bo prepared to pay anything over and abovo their rates, towards the maintenance or improvement of such street; Statutory power had been Riven the local bodies who wero to contribute to the cost of the improvement of tho Hutt Eoad to tax motor-vehicles of all kinds usinjr the road, such money to be spent on tho cost of tho road and its maintenance.

How the motor vehicles were to l>9 taxed had yet to be decided. In America a charge was made when the annual license was granted, on the horse-power of the car tho license was token.out for. Ho did not know if that wore practicable hero as an owner, whoso car might bo laid ,iip for six or twelve months, would find Hint ho had to pay the tamo, as the ■man whoso cur travelled over tho road twice a day regularly. Another method which had been suggested was to tax tho lyres as thoy came into the country through tho Customs Department.' That, perhaps, wag a fairer way, as the wear on tyros was a pretty good indication os to tho extent to which nso was made of tho roads. The, money so raised wonld bo ear-marked for road improvement and maintenance. Tho difficulty which would probably 'arite in carrying out sncli a system would ho that of allocating the money fairly among the local bodies ■concerned all over the Dominion. It was. a very difficult pro Mem', and one. that was bound to be discussed at (he Municipal Association's Conference to he he'd next month, in connection with tho remits concorning motor traffic.