County Matters.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 47, 25 February 1914, Page 2

County Matters.

PROPOSED TOLL-GATES. MEETING AT MIDHIRST. I THE PRINCIPLE APPROVED. I A mooting of North Riding ratepayers W the Stratford County Council was jheld, in the Midhirst Public Hall yesj torday afternoon to consider the qviesition of the erection of a toll-gate on It he Mountain Road somewhere in the I vicinity of Midhirst. , The chairman 1 of the County Council (Mr W. Hathaway) Resided., and Crs Smith, Were, Rogers, Christofl'el, and Thomson were also in attendance. Cr. W alter, who went to Ohura with tlie Chamber of Commerce party, and who is returning via the Wanganui River, telegraphed his inability to be present. The Chairman, in opening the meeting, said the meeting would have to | consider the finances Of the County |as a whole. The present finance f would not keep the roads in good 'condition. All the roads had been j improved to a certain extent, but until the next rates became due the Council had only about £6OOO to work upon. The vrages-sheet ran, into about £6OO per month. There were many works which needed to he done. There was the Te Popo bridge, which was in such a dangerous state that the Council would not send its own road roller over it. Cr. Smith: There is a bridge in the West Riding which needs renewing. The Chairman continued that five years ago the t County had no notion the motor car traffic would increase. The County Engineer gave it as his opinion that with the present motor traffic the County’s revenue would not suffice to keep the roads in good order. Not only the Stratford Engineer hut county engineers as far down as Palmerston were crying out that the county revenue was not sufficient to keep the roads in order. Especially was this the case between Wanganui and Palmerston. At the last greeting ot he County Conference the principle, of taxing motor cars was approved, but the Government would not promise to pass legislation; and he did not hlamo t-he present Government or any Government for refusing to pass legislation which was calculated to alienate votes from them. The farmer should not be bound by oarty politics. They should see that they got a fair subsidy , on,.Their rates. { If they had got, a subsidy in the same proportion- as sonic South Island counties their County would not be in the condition it was to-day. Going back to toll-gates, Mr Hathaway quoted statistics regarding tollgates in the Hawera and Eltharn Counties. TUb South Road gate in the Hawera County cost £250, had a revenue of about £1200,. end (the wages paid were 52s per week. The annual revenue at the Eltharn gate was £I4OO, and the expenditure £152. The Eltharn County had recently called a meeting o n delegates from Taranaki local bodies with the idea of making toll-gate charges uniform throughout the province Mr Hathaway then quoted the following figures of a tally taken for a week at Waipukn oeciveen the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 ».m : Motor cars going north 75, going south 54; motor bicycles going north 711, south 19, with side-cars g -lr.g north 6, south 7; four-wheeled vehicles going north 24, south 24; two-wheeled vehicles going north 62, south 61; horsemen going north 31, south 34; cattle going north 182, south 28; sheep going north 1945, south 906. With the exception of the car traffic on Friday, when the Royal Artillery Hand performed at New Plymouth, he presumed the amount of traffic was a fair average. The speaker then quoted road and bridge report by the Engineer on the Mountain Road in the North Riding. The Kahonri bridge, said the Engineer, had been re-decked, cleaned

and painted, and with another coating of paint in five years it should he good for ten years from now. The Piakau bridge was of concrete, and with the exception of painting the handrail and metalling, would need no upkeep. The Te Popo bridge required to be replaced by a concrete structure at a cost of £SOO, after which the maintenance would bo confined to metalling. The Manganui bridge, a hardwood structure, had recently been re-decked. It should lie good for ten years. The Waipnku bridge was of concrete, and all the upkeep would he for painting rails and for metalling. As to metalling, the road was in better condition than it bad ever been, but to keep it in fit condition for motor traffic it would cost £6OO annually, this amount enabling at least a mile to lie scarified and re-faced each your. But the motor traffic bad increased to such an extent that be doubted if the sum quoted would keep the road in good condition, hi any case the metal on the road was not wide enough and it would be well if it could be widened by four feet at a cost of £2OO per mile. The present roadway for the most part was not fit to bo treated with tar, but under the suggested scheme it would bn gradually brought up to the tarring standard. The estimated cost of maintenance of the road for 101 1-15 was £.‘looo.

Mr Tfatlmway said that when Hie Te Popo bridge was reportenr to be unsafe, a letter was sent to llio Min-

ister for Public Works asking for a pound-for-pomid subsidy, the fact being mentioned that the budge was on the main road from' Wellington ro New Plymouth. The reply was that nothing could Tie done. The sum the Government was asked tor was only £250, and when ft was considered how much revenue was received from Taranaki lie thought it must he found that the treatment was rather on the shabby aide.

Mr Hathaway said the revenue from the road was about £2900, and there remained to be paid the Riding’s share of the hospital and chaiitable aid levy. The motor traffic had increased greatly in the past ten years and they could not say how much it would increase in the coming years. There was a feeling in the Council, , though it was not the feeling of the majority, that the system of road accounts should be abolished. * There had been many attempts made to alter the system. If they, ever had a vacancy in the North Riding they should beware of men living on the main road. 1 here were some honest men living on main roads (and some were on. the Council), but the majority of them would see that the main road was kept in good order and give the side roads no thought. No matter in what maimer it was done, if money was spent when not in hand they would be up against the finance. There were many side roads in the North Hiding who had taxed themselves to make their own roadswas it fair now to pool all the accounts and have all the money spent on the main roads, allowing the ratepayers on the side roads to reinstate their roads at their own expense.

Cr. Rogers said the cpiestiou was whether the toll-gate would be erected or the Government approached to take over control of the main road, thus enabling the rates to be spent on the side roads. Cr. Thomson said the toll-gate must be erected or the rates increased. In England motor cars were taxed according to their horsepower. The roads accounts system had saved the situation over and over again in tho hackblocks. Unless something were done to ensure the motor traffic paying its share of the upkeep of roads the rates must bo. increased.

Cr. Smith supported the idea .of a toll-gate. . ; j ; The Chairman said there was a fooling that the Council intended to unduly tax motor ers. The Councillor who had brought the matter up in the Council was Cr. Christoffel, the owner of a motor car, who was generally admitted to be fairly levelheaded, Cr. Ohristoffel knew t thjiT the taxation .he : paid on his motor car he- did not pay on his land i

Cr. Christoffel i said he was not in ■favor of ( a ; -toll-gate 'if it • cbilld •bd 1 avoided. ide believed that the bulk of the revenue at the Elthani gate was derived from motor cars. Tarring would cost from 2os to 30s pef ciuun—roughly £IUU per mile, \\ lieu tiie tarring was done nothing need 0e done to the road for'dwo or throe vears. when rt might need to bo 1 reJ ' 7 * -J . I ) [ tarred. Unco the tar was on it was a“ roof to the road and none ot tixte njaiterial shifted. " ‘file of jtithdm iuid been laid down ten years ago,, but were .to-day as solid as the aay. they were put clown. Of course, tney were expensive in the first place.

The Chairman said the taking; over of tire road by the Government would he going back to the Hoad Board days. a the Government took control of the main roads there would be two plants and two authorities in cue County. it was generally supposed that with Government control me ratepayers would get something for nothing, but the fact was that the ratepayers would still have to pay for whatever they got. There were always men in the House who know nothing about the land, who cried insistently: “Tax the land.” The farmer had the capitalist at his throat and these tax-the-land agitators at the other side of him and had a hard struggle to make both ends meet. Personally, he thought that if the Government took over the road the ratepayers would have to pay IDO per cent, more for it than at present. Under Government control there would be political corruption, which should be shunned like a viper. Cr. Thomson said he had seen the chairman of thw Hawera. County Council and had asked him if it was legal to exempt milk carts from tolls. Ho said that the Hawera County had exempted them for a long time, and had not been called to account. The Chairman said that after hearing the discussion at last Council meeting he could assure the meeting that the feeling of the Council was to exempt milk carts, and if that was not possible to deal with them as lightly as possible. Next year, if the toll-gate was not in operation the Hiding would have to stand an increase of a halfpenny in the rates—probably a penny. It was,- proposed to erect one gate at'Waipuku, one at

tho oast ond of Boaco.nsfield Rond, 0110 in tho South Hiding and ono in llio West Riding, ff tlio North Rill-

ing gato gave the same revenue as tho Mangatoki gate it would ho equal to a 2]d rate, Hr Brown asked how much the other ridings would take from tho toll-gate, receipts. The North Bid-

ing roads were the most expensive in tho County. In tho South Riding. for instance, there were no hig bridges. The Council seemed to have its eye chiefly on the motor traffic, hiu the driving of stock from sale to sale did more damage to tho roads (ham the motor traffic. Unless

that was combated they were only dealing with one phase of the trouble. He asked why the toll-gate should he foisted on the North Hiding and the money collected go to other Hidings not in great need of it. The chairman said there was no definite suggestion about where the gates should bo placed. The question of the cattle traffic had been fully discussed at the last meeting of the County Council. The Council thought the buyer of stock would benefit by the erection of toll-gates, as at present beasts wore driven all over the country as long as they could stand. The suggested gates would minimise if not stop this traffic. The Engineer stated that since .Mountain Road had'been put in good order motorists iiad increased their pace over it by from five to ten miles per hour. If motorists were prepared to pay a fair share of the cost of upkeep the Stratford County Council was prepared to give them decent roads. He did not think any car-owner would object to paying a fair levy. It was tentatively suggested that the North Hiding should keep seventy per cent, of the tolls, ten per cent going to each of the other Ridings. Mr Brown wanted an assurance that milk carts would be exempt.

Cr. Smith said Mr Brown could rest assured that the Council would either exempt milk carts or make the toll very light. It was at present proposed to build the gate out of Ihe general fund, but if the Riding built the gate he thought the Riding was entitled to the whole of the proceeds.

Mr Brown said that the tarred roads in tlfo Old Country seemed everlasting. Mr Peterson: Keep the toll-gate until we can tar the road. Mr Brown: What would the revenue frpm tin; gate be, taking the recent tally and the Eltham schedule aa a basis.

The Chairman.; About £2O a week. Mr Brown said he was sure that the number of toll-paying passengers could be held to be half as much again as shown, many people going along the road before and after the hours during which the tally was taken. A ratepayer asked who ' got the money paid for registration of motor cars. The chairman explained that the fee was only ten shillings and lasted for the life of the car. The Act had been in operation for six years, but in no year did the County’s revenue from registration exceed £3O. On the motion of Mr F. Peterson, seconded by Mr Luders, the meeting decided to approve the principle ot. toll-gates. There were about fifty ratepayers present, but only eighteen , v voted for the motion, though nobody, voted against it., , j ,