SURPRISING AND DISAPPOINTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 53, 23 July 1914, Page 4

SURPRISING AND DISAPPOINTING.

Thi' Motor Hill presented to tin; House by the (luv(■ n:i]m'llL is both surprising and tlisa-ppoiritiny (says the Auckland Herald.) It is reactionary in that it ui pendv upon tin: antiquated policy, n'-m-----almost obsolete, of throwing the charge of road maintenance upon individual nisei's —anil a special class of users at that; it is inadequate for tJie amount thus irritatingly collected must he too small appreciably ito relieve the situation; and it is so far unbusinesslike that it divide:!) among Jwral bodies, eager to avoid rating, an amount which ean only be solely applied to main road purposes by the (loverninent itself. No sound reason luis ever been advanced for the special taxing of motor-car? for road maintenance, though some reasons might be offered if or a general mh'eel tax, as was once oll'ered for the almost forgotten toll-gate. In Taranaki there are still toll-gates, and it was at one of these gates that cyclists were once "tolled" to the extent of five shilings because of a local thwsrv that they frightened stock. The attitude of mind displayed in a motor tax is not greatly dissimilar, for the only unassailable argument is that they are relatively new. Aa a mutter of fact,' iJhje pneumatic tyre of the motor wheel

inflicts much less injury to the road than dees the ordinary wheel, while the contributions! to the national revenue by the average motorist are sufilicient'y great tu justify him in claiming tile right to travel over the national roads unpena.ised. Long experience in every progrewivu country ihas shown lliat tin! tull-gate is a cumbrous and unsatisfactory device for raising revenue. There is only one effective way for providing good roads, a way common to every progro«-ive state—the providiir.' of arterial r ads by the central government. anil the superintended providing of local roads liy competent ioeal authority. the cost being borne 1»y the consolidated revenue and by subsidised local rating. In the attempt to relieve the grave situation resulting from national neglect of the problem, all sorts of curious devices have been proposed, Anything is possible, from the toll-gate to the wheel tax, until the state grapples with the question fearlessly. Millions must Ijb spent where we are spending hundreds of thousands, and local rating should be applied to ail 'and, whether owned 'by pakelia or Maori. A motor tax is unbound in principle, but if we are to have an unsound principle, it is well to apply if impartially, and do tWc best than can be done with it. Motorists would have less cause to feel' unfairly taxed if the lax were applied not to (motors onlv. led to all vehicles; flhey would possib'v fed that there were compensations if. the Government itself spent the tax money on the main roads. Divided among local authorities, the money would, in most cases, be used to lower or avoid rating, and the roads wouM not be improved in t3»e slightest decree. The Government won'd at least apnl" it to the intended perpo'-f, 'ind "■mild be nbl" ( n so" hbw puerile it i-' for nnr dv'lis"'! state to think- hf naintaining its roads bv faxing motcrs.