HEAVY TRAFFIC FEES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 524, 29 November 1928, Page 16

HEAVY TRAFFIC FEES

ABOLITION OPPOSED NEWMARKET’S ATTITUDE BOROUGH’S TRAFFIC PROBLEM A protest against the proposal that the Government should abolish the regulations giving local bodies ttie right to charge heavy traffic fees was made at last evening’s meeting of the Newmarket Borough Council. The town clerk said that the council received no grant from the Highways Board or any allowance from the petrol tax, yet the borough had great traffic responsibilities. Therefore, it would be most inequitable if the heavy trstfflc fees disappeared. In response to a request from the Public Works Department asking for details concerning the expenditure of moneys received from heavy traffic fees, a report from the town clerk and traffic inspector was presented to the council. The report stated that the receipt in 1926 were £575, in 1927 £602 and in 1928 £578. These sums had beeß used either in road maintenance work, or for the purpose of meeting interest and sinking fund on loans used for road construction. The report continued that the damage caused to roads by heavy vehicles was greater than that caused by a number of ordinary motors using the same amount of petrol. A consic r ■ able amount of damage was caused also by vehicles up to two tons laden which did not at present pay fees. A recommendation that the fpes payable on heavy vehicles he reduced, and that fees be charged on two-ton laden vehicles, was carried.