TOLL-GATES, OR SEPARATE RATE?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 90, 12 May 1909, Page 4

TOLL-GATES, OR SEPARATE RATE?

r i OMATA FAVOt'fUS THE TOJXS. 1 There was a fair muster of ratepayers on Monday night at Oinuta to meet the riding members of the Tarauaki County Council, .Messrs C. Andrews and J. JCarpenter, who wished to consult the ratepayers concerning the means of raising revenue for carrying on tiie work of the riding, and extinguishing the present heavy overdraft. Mr. J. Brown, ■ County Chairman, and Jlr C. Carter, member for the Hurworth riding, were present. Mr A. George was voted to the chair. Mr J. Brown, County Chairman, stated the position of the riding. He opined tint the present position was likeiy to continue for some little time yet. The ratepayers had to face one of two ways out of the difficulty. Either they could a system of toil - gates, or strike a separate rate. Speak•ST for himself, he was in favor toll-gate* in preferences to a »te. This was not a special rate, xhe Conacll conld'only levy a special ratfc upon petition of the ratepayers, but could levy a separate rate or erect tollgates with 6r without tile consent ol tie ratepayers. The riding members, however, had decided to consult the ratepayers before taking such a step. The Umata riding's debit balance on April Ist last was £lOll odd. Amounts expended to date were JtfiOl, and contracts 'had been enteied into to aosorb £989 j bringing the total present liability to over £3442. The estimated revenue for the ensuing year from rates, (licenses,. #g-taK, )sm>sidy and levies, was £1558, leaving a dehciency of £IBB4 los. This, made no provision for the wages of the'two foremen, casual labour (about £250 to ££/0), sionecrushing charges (engine-driver, steerer, coaJ, oils), sundry carting and miscella .- eous riding expenditure. As ratepayers » were aware the formation of the Hurworth riding reduced the Omata ridng revenue by £9BO per annum, and the formation of the St. aubyn township would mean a loss Of a further £350. This placed the Omata riding in a very serious position, and they had got to face the music. A separate rate of a halfpenny in the £ over the Omata riding would produce £.1117 IDs lOd, or 4s 2d per £IOO of capital value. Toll-gates, one at the New Plymouth end and one at ' Puniho, might, be expected to produce from £boo to £IOOO per annum, for, estimating tolls on previous rentals in 1900-1-2, the returns net to the council • would be £BIB per annum. Of course, traffic had largely increased since then, and motor-cars and motor-bicycles which were not formerly scheduled were now available for tolls. In his opinion the tariff needed increasing for some kinds of traffic. The present position of the riding, he said, was due to the two large jobs at Tapuae and Oakura, but even outside that it took an enormous amount of metal to keep the roads in repair. For tie coming year the Coflncil - lad allocated 4902 yards of stone for the riding, irrespective oi 1884 yards used in metalling the Oakura deviation. The ' total amounts in the waitara and Moa ridings were 1450 and 2150 yards respectively, or 3000 yards for 05 limes ot road, as against 4902 yards in Omata for ffi miles of road. The average cost of road maintenance in the County was ' . £6B a. mile, so Omata would absorb about £I4OO. The metal estimated for this.year would cost £1390 19s (id tipped »a tta, raad. Add to this the foreman's • waoa ( £BBI 14s), and the amount stood at £1872 13s fid, or above the estimated rerane for the ensuing year. Perhaps, said Mr. Brown, it was not for hiiu to advise. The ratepayers there snould knoir their own business best. But if he (Were a settler then lie would go unhesitatingly for the toll-gates. There was an immense ainuunt of " through' traffic from Opunake and the Egmont County, which contributed nothing to • the upkeep of roads and would not be caught by a rate. >Hc particularly drew attention to the cattle traffic from the outside districts and to the Native traf-

Mr o. Andrews (riding Councillor) briefly addressed the meeting, pointing ' ' , out that as the Tapuac and Oakura contracts- had been entered on before t'ae present Omata riding members took their seats they were not to blame for ' the excessive expenditure. Had the engineer carried out the work for the estimated cost the riding account would not have been in Us present position. The ' Tapuae estimate bad been £I2OO, and i the actual cost £3584 odd. That was where a lot of the rates nad gone; He : didn't object to paying a toll when lie used a road, but he objected to paying a rate'for the upkeep of a road for other people. , , , In answer to Mr Taylor, it was stated that the St. Aubvn town district must soon he wn accomplished fact, and tliat the township would take a mile of Hie county road. ' Mr' D. Penwarden thouglit it "lianl lines" for the people in Omata to lie saddled with the debt for Oakura and Tapuae. contracts, for they didn't use that portion of the road. Further, Omata people paid rates on very high values. If a toll-gate were put in Omnia, as before, so that the settlers emild hardly 'go outside their own aoors without paying toll, there would be trouble. Mr B. Honevfield considered it unfair that the Hurworth riding was not carrying a share of the debt in the '' Tapuac blunder." Mr Carpenter (riding Councillor) said he favoured the toll-gates. In answer- to questions, the county chairman stated that the toll-gate could not be .placed within a mile of the borough boundary; without toll-gates, the separate rate would need to be struck for three or four years to wipe out the present deficiency; the tollgates seemed to him to be likely to remain permanently, for without some such source of revenue the roads could not be maintained— certainly the ordinary %d rates would not suffice. Mr E. R. Bayly thouglit it must have been a short-sighted council that had let this thing come on them as a surprise like this. He blamed the milk-carts for cutting up the roads. Cr. Andrews said the milk-carts paid the rates,, too. He could not see why Maoris, lawyers, doctors, commercial travellers, and everyone else but the ratepayers should use the rosds ' free of charge. Tire Rev. Allanson said lie was very . sorry to hear of taking a retrograde step Blicli as going back to toll-gates. The wonderfully good management "f the men whom the ratepayers had elected had brought them into this mess, and now they had to get out of it cither by toll-gates or a rate. He favoured the rate, for the cost of collecting lolls was he*fjf> and that money would be better .on the {Wide. Toll-gates would cause a

decline in the value o. [iiopurt.v, ami lifter .people ivom coming into tile district to live, lie would never liuvo gone there h-.ul he dreamed there were toll-gates coiuiug. Mr Urown, in answer to the argument that the tolls would he a handicap oil the land, said that a 1-Vid rate looked a ' much bigger handicap. ill- 15. iloiievlield asked if the rate collector would draw his commission out of the separate rate. He thought the council might retrench there. Mr Brown said the clerk would, of course, draw the commission. As for the retrenchment suggested, it would be retrenchment at the wrong end. Mr Ellis was the best man they ever had in the billet, and they'd go a long way without finding a better. Mr George moved, and Mr B. Honeyfield seconded, that the Council be asked to establish two toll-gates in the Omata riding, in preference to a special rate. Rev. Allansoa was informed that bicycles, motor-bikes, motor-cars, would pay toll, the last-named probably 5s (laughter). The rev. gentleman combatted the idea that the outside people who used the road paid nothing towards their upkeep. They all contributed by the Government subsidy on rates. This .prompted the County Chairman to read a statement showing that where, as the road board districts in the Omata riding had a rateable value of £530,036, they contributed only £192 13s 3<l in Government subsidy to the county funds, the three road districts which now formed the Hurworth riding had contributed i ±llBO 8s from a valuation of only £2U5,- . 767, the reason being the low rates levied . bv the Omata riding road district. "•Mr Edgar Bayly moved, and Rev. All- ' ans'on seconded, as an amendment, that

, the Council be asked to levy the si'par- , ate rate. I Mr Bayly said it was the County Chair- . man's fault that the riding was in a mess, for it all arose out of his taking ! in the Hurworth riding, with 50 miles 3 of road, and nothing to keep them with. "Mr Carter's hoodwinked you once,and he'll do it again." b Mr Brown replied that the Omata I) people were just beginning to feel the loss of their milch cow. They would i' feel It more later 011. It "had paid, to 0 keep the Hurworth people in the county. 1 After some further discussion, ni which 1- it was pointed out that the riding was s a very long, narrow, and not too highly I valued strip of country to have to maint tain an arterial road, the mectag dee clared bv 10 votes to 8 in favour of tne toll-gates, although it was freely stated before the meeting that there would ue I almost a block vote in the other dircc- , tion. s' The riding members, with the County e Chairman, addressed a meeting at OakJn ra last night. Thev will be at Tatarainiaka to-night and at Okato to-morrow if night.