ARTERIAL ROADS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2309, 30 July 1921, Page 4

ARTERIAL ROADS.

OUTLINE OF NEW BILL.

The Hon.’J. G. Coates, Minister for Public Works, stated at Wellington .on Wednesday that next session he will introduce a Main Highways Bill. The scheme, which had received the approval of Cabinet, would make a new departure, eliminating local bodies from the matter of finance and control. The first would be provided by the Government, and the second would be under an independent Board, without interference from the Government or local body, the former only interfering so far as necessary to preserve Government control of the expenditure of Government money. The first roads to be declared arterial in the North Island would bo the road from Kaitaia to Wellington, via Auckland, Hamilton, Te Ivuiti, Waitara and Wanganui, and the road from Wellington to Gisborne, and in the South Island the road from Blenheim to the Bluff, and the road from Blenheim via Nelson, to Hokitika. The Bill will propose that finance be provided bv: (1) A special duty on tyres, (2) by a license fee, apart from local registration fee, on every four or threewheeled motor vehicle, cycle and side-car. The license fee would be identical in amount for every fourwheeled vehicle, without differentiation for weight or power, but that there should be another uniform fee for two-wheeled vehicles, and a third uniform fee for two-wheeled vehicles. (3) By money provided by Parliament annually from the Public Works or Consolidated Fund. The portions of the arterial roads in the cities or boroughs would be constructed and maintained out of city or borough funds.

“The t|uestion of arterial road

communication has been receiving

my attention ever since I have been .Minister of Public Works,” said Mr Coates, in a statement regarding the above. “Several Bills were drafted, each involving the local bodies in tho administration of the scheme, but I eventually came to the conclusion that the problem was essentially a national one, involving national control. Therefore, as will be seen by the accompanying statement, which has received the approval of Cabinet, I have made a new departure by eliminating the local bodies from the scheme. The Bill has not been printed, but it will be prepared by the Government Printer exactly on the lines indicated in this statement. Therefore, local bodies, and all interested in the matter, can take this statement as a clear indication of what is proposed. The Bill will simply put the scheme into statutory form."

The Minister referred to the alterations in conditions of travel through the development of motor traffic: and the necessity arising therefrom for a much higher class of construction. “The original policy of constructing arterial railways must, therefore, now be supplemented by the construction and maintenance to a higher degree of perfection of arterial highways. Railways were —and with few exceptions still are —constructed and maintained wholly out of Dominion funds, without subvention from local finance. The present exceptions to that rule are that the local bodies are now permitted to construct and maintain, out of local finance, light railways lo feed and supplement the main arterial raiiwavs.

“The policy to he regarded in the future, and to he adopted as far as is possible for the present with respect to roads, should he upon the same genera! lines as tlie policy of roads and railways in the past. Main arterial roads should he constructed, and maintained by the Dominion as a whole, while roads of a purely local interest, or county interest, must be constructed and maintained wholly by local body finance, with such assistance from j the Government in the way of grants j fur construction and subsidies for metalling as the financial circumstances of the Dominion will permit. “But in the case of railways, the provision for maintenance and for paying interest upon cost of construction is made by charges upon those who use the railway, whether as passengers or for goods traffic, and the same must be the case in regard to the provision of Dominion finance for the construction and maintenance of arterial highways to enable rapid motor traffic to be conducted.

“Toll charges to effect this purpose would be inconvenient, obsolete, and often unfair. Other methods must, therefore, tie adopted to effect the same object, namely, that the class of vehicles and of persons for which and for whom the means of rapid traffic arc provided should contribute a large proportion of the cost to the Dominion. It is to be borne in mind that existing main road conditions are generally quite adequate for any form of transport other than what may he termed ‘high-speed traffic,’ in other words, motor traffic.

“The Government proposes by the Bill to he introduced in the coming session, effective provision for the construction, reconstruction, and maintenance of such main roads as may he declared arterial highways, out of Dominion finance, relieving local finance of all cost and charge in irespect of such arterial highways, and thereby increasing the amount which, out of local finance, the local authorities can provide for the better construction and maintenance of district and county roads, and enable the necessary annual supply of Dominion funds for the first purpose. “To prevent the policy above de-

fined collapsing in its earliest stages, it is essential that the roads to be defined as main arterial highways during the first few years of the operation of the Act should be strictly limited in.extent, and therefore many roads which it is believed will ultimately come within the definition of main arterial highways, can be transferred from local burden to Dominion finances, must, for the time present, be excluded, and the present effort limited to effective construction and maintenance of a much less extent of roadway. “The second essential requirement is that a£ far as possible the expenditure of moneys provided out of Dominion .finance for maintenance and construction of main arterial highways should be removed from political or parochial influence of every kind. It is only in dealing with main highways under a comprehensive policy free from all local influence that material progress and improvement can be achieved within reasonable time.

“The determination of the particular part of a highway to be constructed, reconstructed, or maintained, and of the particular, parts of a highway requiring special and exceptional expenditure on maintenance should be left to an independent expert board, without interference from Government, or Parliament, except so far as is necessary to preserve the Government control of expenditure of Government money.

“The Bill to be submitted for consideration of Parliament will propose provision for: — (1) The definition of what shall be for the present main arterial highways for the purposes of the Bill. (2) The constitution of a board of departmental engineers and other gentlemen under whose control both the arterial highways and all money funded for the purpose of the construction and maintenance of such highways shall be placed. (3) Finance. —The first, roads to be declared main arterial highways will be: —In the North Island: A road from Kaitaia to ■Wellington, via Auckland, Hamilton, Te Kuiti, Waitara, and Wanganui. A road from Wellington to Gisborne. In the South Island: A road from Blenheim to the Bluff, and a road from Blenheim, via Nelson, to Kokitika. “The Bill will propose that finance shall be provided: (1) By a special duty on tires. (2) By a license fee (apart from local body registration fee) on every four or three-wheeled motor vehicle, motor cycle, aud side-car and motor cycle. It is proposed that the license fee should be identical in amount for every four-wheeled vehicle, without differentiation for weight or power, and that there should be another uniform fee less in amount for three-wheel-ed vehicles, and a third uniform fee for two-wheeled vehicles. (3) By money provided by Parliament annually from either the Public Works Fund or Consolidated Fund.

“It must be added that where part of a main arterial highway is a street in a city or borough, such part will continue to be constructed and maintained as at present out of city or borough funds. It is not proposed that the Board of Main Arterial Highways shall have any power or duty in respect of the streets of a borough or city. Having regard to thb opportunity offered in cities and boroughs of more intensive taxation on highly-valued property, and the fact that high-speed traffic and its consequent destruction of roads is not permissible or possible to anything like the same extent in boroughs or cities as it is on the open road, the exclusion of main highways in boroughs and cities from the operation of the Bill is considered fair and reasonable.”