STATE OF ROADS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 53, Issue 32424, 28 April 1944, Page 5

STATE OF ROADS

COMMENT BY CARRIERS ATTITUDE OF COUNCIL MORE SPENT THAN RECEIVED “The carriers (in the Thames Valley Carriers’ Association) were somewhat surprised at the attitude of the council to the association’s letter of February 14 referring' to the bad state of the roads in the Waihi area,” stated the writer of a letter, dated April 13, read at the April meeting of the Ohinemuri County Council. The letter, which was signed by the association’s secretary, Mrs !R. Clark, referred to a statement made by a councillor at a previous meeting of the council, to the effect that the carriers did not pay rates and that if their* charges were raised, as desired, the farmers paying rates in the area would suffer. The writer of the letter said the association desired to remind the council that a considerable sum was paid by the carriers towards maintenance of the roads, through the heavy traffic pool, and petrol and tyre taxes, and also that it was not in the power of the carriers to increase their own charges, which were fixed by the Licensing Authority. Councillor S. H. Thompson: As the member who made the statement reported in the Hauraki Plains Gazette to which exception seems to have been taken by the Carriers’ Association, I may say that what I said was that while the carriers pay taxes—petrol and tyre taxes —they do not pay rates. The county revenues, continued the speaker, were not contributed to by the petrol and tyre taxes. The chairman (Mr W. Marshall): We spent on roads- last year’ rather more than the income we received for The letter was received, their maintenance.