THE BIG STEAL.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 305, 12 September 1929, Page 7

THE BIG STEAL.

RAID ON THE ROAD FUNDS Temptation and Finance.

I I Sir Joseph Ward’s proposed raid 5 of £350,000 on the main highways r j fund should give motorists and local - j bodies furiously to think. The. ■ j Marlborough Automobile Association, with other motoring' organisations, has made a timely and dignified protest against the proposed robbery,

and this protest may have some effect in view of the rather peculiar state of the political parties ; but the real lesson to be learned from Sir Joseph’s proposals is that which Winston Churchill taught the British road tax payers a couple of years j ago. It is that there is always a big danger in amassing a public fund j earmarked for any specific purposes. j Money so raised should be spent, and - the sooner the better. That is what 1 j it is meant for. Given a highways j board sitting light on hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash and a | Finance Minister reduced to desper- ! atiou by the necessity for balancing his Budget, the fate .of the hundreds of thousands is written on the Wall. No brigand worth his' salt could possibly overlook such easy money—and all Finance Ministers are necessarily brigands. Winston Churchill stole no less than £18,000,000 from the British road fund, and there seems to be reason for congratulation in the fact that in New Zealand we have not amassed so much. One presumes that the moral will not be lost on the Highways Board.