HEAVY TRAFFIC FEES

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 291, 3 August 1932, Page 8

HEAVY TRAFFIC FEES

FARMERS ASK FOR RELIEF ON FARMING YEHICLES. A suggestion that fa.mers' heavy motor vehicles used solel;> for the transport of the individual farmer's produce and supplies should be exempted from the payment of heavy traffic fees is undsr consideration by the Government. The groun.1 i of the proposal are that the existing low prices for primary products have made it essential that costs should be reduced and that if the fees were imposed many farmers would revert to horsedrawn vehicles, the metal tyres of which would be harmful to surfaced roads. In view of the fact that the fees ara collected and expended by the I local authorities controlling the roads, ! the Government has decided to obtain I the opinions of the interested bodies ' before eoming to a decision. A circular letter to local bodies from the Commissioner of Transport, Mr. J. S. Hunter, states that, excluding passenger vehicles, there are more i than 12,000 trucks in New Zealand - on which heavy traffic fees are paid. The total amount payable was £150,000, made up as follows: — Carriers, £35,000; farmers, £30,000; contractors, £15,000; merchants, £15,000; miscellaneous, £55,000. filt will be seen that if effect is given to the repres'entations made," the circular continues, "the revenue of local bodies for road maintenance I purposes may be reduced by £30,000, and this would mean that either rates would have to be increased at the expense of all the ratepayers to malce good the amount, or the expenditure on road maintenance would have to be reduced by £30,000. | "In view of the limited amount of money already available for this purpose, the second course would be most undesirable, and possibly impracticable. An, other point which should be remembered is that if farmers receive exemption from these fees on account of the small annual road mileage of their trucks, numerous other operators, such as market gardeners, will also claim exemption for the same reason, and it appears that when once j this fee is based on the road usage, ! instead of on a flat schedule, the rej venue from this taxation will be seriously reduced."