TURNPIKE ROADS.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 February 1921, Page 3

TURNPIKE ROADS.

(Lyttelton Times). A very interesting feature of the agi tation for better roads, which is pro (•ceding in this country at present, i; the drift of opinion in favour of the toll-gate system. If it were only a case of local authorities advocating turnpike roads the matter could be dismissed as a piece of reactionary parochialism, but the demand in its latest form comes from a motoring organisation in Wellington, which liases its views on the success and popularity of the system in Taranaki- The motoring community in this country, as in most others is more intimately interested than any other section of the public in the construction of smooth roadways, and, if we are to accept the evidence of most local authorities, the motor disintegrates road surfaces to an extent unequalled by any other class ot traffic. In the earlier days of motoring the quarrel between the motorist and the average road hoard or county council was hitter and whole-hearted, and the suggestion of a tyre-tax on motors was originally the local authorities’ contribution to a very controversy. With the passing of tile

! years, and the wider use of motor 1 vehicles, especially in rural districts, the old misunderstandings between the controllers and the users of the -toads 1 have been very largely removed. Motorists nowadays appreciate the fact that the average local authority is doing its best with the funds at its disposal in I the matter of road construction and

maintenance, and that the most praetii cal way to effect an improvement is to ; offer help in paying for it. Hence it I is that the tolis and taxes which formed the battle-cry of the local bodies in the controversy of a decade ago are to-day being proposed by the motorists themselves. The more generous and reasonable attitude now manifested on both sides is certainly welcome in the best interests of progress, but it is a question whether, in the matter of tlieir advocacy of toll-gates the motorists are not conceding too much. The system, originated in England about 1750, was abolished after a century’s experience of its working, on the general ground that it imposed an undesirable handicap on transport and communication. That the resuscitation of this* discarded system lias been necessary to give Taranaki good roads is, perhaps, less a trihate to the virtues of "the toll-gate than evidence of -the deficiencies of our ex- j isting system of road control. That j those deficiencies are recognised by the , present Minister of Public Works is indicated by bis proposals to place quain mads under some system of national control. While users of motor vehicles would receive the most immediate bene- | fit from a general improvement in the j country’s roads, the whole community , would eventually receive benefit. Motor j transport fs playing an increasingly important part in internal trade, and even j the Northern Railway League, which ims so strenuously advocated the reticulation of every'nook and cranny m Vuckland province by rail, is now suggesting that good motoring roads are q ill more essential. If Mr Coates cm levise a plan whereby good roads can ie obtained without toll-gates, which ibould not be impossible, lie will do rood service by diverting attention f rom an a venue which, whatevei its ft "