PRINCIPLE AFFIRMED

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 176, 21 April 1921, Page 6

PRINCIPLE AFFIRMED

TOLL-GATE FOR DAY’S BAY

HUTT COUNTY COUNCIL’S LATEST MOVE

Matters in connection with tho proposed erection of a toll-gate on the Day’s Bay road were advanced a further stage at a special meeting of the Hutt County Council yesterday morning, over which Mr. J. Barclay presided. The meeting affirmed the general principle involved by the adoption of the toll-gate system of raising revenue, and decided to go ahead with the Day’s Bay road proposal. Should the experiment at Day’s Bay prove a success, tho council will consider the question of erecting toll gates in other ridings in the county—notably on the Paekakariki Hill and the road over the Rimutakas. ■' When the council met yesterday, the chairman remarked that on account of the present financial stringency it was obviously time that the council devised some fresh means of maintaining the county roads. Toll gates, he proceeded, wore gradually- going out of use, but in many instances they afforded a most satisfactory means of keeping the roads in good order. Good roads were an advantage to the travelling public. According to Councillor Atkinson, it was imperative that the council should ' bo afforded some means of coping with the ever-increasing cost of keeping the county roads in repair. The money obtained from toll gates should be expended on those sections of the reads on which they were situated. Councillor M'Kay spoke in favour of the general eystem of toll'gates, which meant, he eaid, that the people using the roads paid for the upkeep of them. Tho alternative of taxing motor tyres was unsatisfactory. The chairman pointed out that the council had not paid sufficient attention to the by-roads. After further discussion the council carried a motion affirming the principle of the institution of toll gates in tho county. It was agreed that for the present the innovation should be confined to the Day’s Bay road. The meeting then went on to consider a comprehensive scale of charges, which had been compiled by Councillor Atkinson. This provided for a varying schedule of tolls covering a wide range of vehicles. The suggested charges for rubber-tyred motor vehicles were as follow- —Two-seatw car, Is.; three-seater, Is. 6d.; 5 to 10 passengers, 35.; 10 to 20 passengers, 55.; 20 to 30 passengers, 7s. 6d.; more than 30 passengers, 10s.; for every trailer attached to a motor vehicle carrying passengfi’s, -CIO. The proposed toll' on traction engines is £2, with the addition of X2 for the first trailer and <£lo in the case of more than one trailer. For motor-cycles the charges range from 9d. to Is. 6d. No charge, it is proposed, will bo made for push bicyclcfl • It was decided to refer the schedule to the county solicitor for revision, after which it will be again considered by the council. The clerk was instructed to take all steps necessary to comply with the requirements of the Public Works Department for the institution of a toll gate on the Day’s Bay read.