The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast limes.) TUESDAY, JUNE 26th, 1923.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 June 1923, Page 2

The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast limes.) TUESDAY, JUNE 26th, 1923.

THE Hit.ll WAYS ACT. Tun Government is dealing new with the preliminaries of the Highways Act which is to tie brought into force in April of next year. The Main Highways Beard lias l,ecn set up. This enni *ists of three Government officials, two 1 County representatives and one Motor 1 representative. The Board will meet 1 shortly and determine its 1 ino of policy but it. .will have over-tiding powers i and duties in regard to main highways i —though the local bodies will still 1 lie called upon to contribute snbstan- > t-iallv to maintenance or new works as ; the case may he. 'file local bodies will require to lean mainly on the District Councils for material henelits under the new system. Counties are to be grouped into various districts, and eacli Council will apjioint a representative to tlie District Council. Oil the Const it is suggested that the group should consist of Westland, Grey, Tnangahun, Butler and Murchison County Councils. A representative from each Council named, with an officer of the Public Works Department-, will constitute the District Council in which tfio Coast will be interested primarily. This District- Council will lie required to report and recommend to the Highways Board in respect to district works, and up to that point will t-o largely advisory. It is conceivable, however, as the Act. becomes operative that much of the work must of necessity be thrown on the local bodies which should be aide to perform the same more economically and efficiently than by a Board centred in Wellington which would require a special staff akin to the former Bonds Department to do the work required. The Roads Department, was disbanded liecau.sc of the expense and overlapping, and a similar staff operating under the Highways Hoard would result in undue cost and unnecessary duplication of officers and officials. The local bodies will find less relief than appears on the surface, in the financial clauses of the Act. Tt is proposed under the enactment to levy half the cost for new works in constructing highways from the local body of the district- where the work is situated. Also, it is proposed to levy for two thirds ol the cost of maintenance of highways in the respective districts. It is not likely the local bodies will submit tamely to this impost and have no direct voire ill the expenditure. Besides the Highways Board makes very comfortable provisions for its own finance. It is taking power to borrow a very large sum ; it is going to draw large annual sums from the consolidated fund: it has already a considerable nest egg from tffe C’ustoliiis duty on motor tyres; and it lias power to license motor vehicles, which, spread over the whole Dominion, should produce a huge sum. The local bodies will niot 1m» able to provide an amount at all equal to this without undue taxation, and it is evident the financial burden on the local bodies under the Highways Act will have to be eased, or the proposal will break down under the weight of the financial clauses. The Act ns it stands was intended as n skeleton measure, but it will be seen it goes much further than that, and it will not be surprising if the problem of finance is not seriously taken up again, and ultimate! v recast betore being brought into operation. The demand for better roads is insistent, but the onus of finding the finance should not be thrown wholly on tile local bodies. They are willing no doubt to eater for their local traffic on normal lines, but with the improvements in transport, and the industrial expansion involving long range traffic, the burden is quite beyond local means, and should not be the load it threatens to become to the ratepayers, many of whom are remote from the main roads and are not general users of the arterial highways. The producer is deserving of special consideration, and in that respect the financial clauses of the Act should be reviewed generously.