A REACTIONARY PROPOSAL. One must sympathise with the Taranaki County Council in the position it finds itself in endeavoring to maintain and improve its roads from limited finance, but we are sure it made a very great mistake in proposing such a drastic means as the wheel tax for gaining relief. A more reactionary step has never been taken by any local body in New Zealand I in recent years, and the Government should be given no rest until such a power is taken away from the few local bodies to which, in a moment of aberration, it was given. It is unthinkable that in the year 1919 a local body should be able to inflict such a severe hardship upon its neighbors and seriously injure one particular locality. No exception can be taken to the application of a motor tax for the upkeep of roads, but it must be general and not local in character. Motorists would not object to the payment of a £5 tax annually if that money were ear-marked for tar-sealing or otherwise improving the main roads, but the Taranaki County Council's intention was to levy that charge on all Taranaki motorists that even occasionally used the roads. The proposal is so manifestly unfair and objectionable that we are surprised any body of reasonable men should ever have given it countenance. That opinion, of course, is a general one, amongst Taranaki ratepayers as well as outsiders, who, with one accord, have vehemently condemned the proposal; Indeed, at Saturday's meeting several ratepayers intimated their willingness to agree to an increased rate in preference to the wheel tax.. Whilst, the chairman made out the strongest case he could for the council, lie could not explain away the fundamental unfairness of the tax, for the simple reason that it would be quite impossible to do so. Whilst the burden of upkeep of main roads is heavy in Taranaki County, it must not b» forgotten that other local bodies in the province are in the same positionindeed, Egmont and Waimate are in a worse position, for they are hedged around with toll-gates. They are facing their difficulties courageously and finding the money necessary for tar-sealing and other improvements without levying invidious taxes or instituting toll-gates. Mr. Connett laid stress on the fact that Taranaki County ratepayers would soon have to find the interest on the big loan for tar-sealing, but he did not explain that the cost of upkeep of such roads would appreciably lighten the cost of maintenance. Both Eltharn and Waiijgate, we that it.
is cheaper to pay interest and sinking fund on a loan for tar-sealed roads than to maintain and renew the ordinary macadam roads. If this is so with roads generally more level than Taranaki's, there would be an actual saving effected by the latter in its new scheme. In any case, there is no justification for penalising their neighbors in the outrageous manner proposed, which has caused such a shrill outcry throughout (the province. The desire should be to pull together, help one another, and bring pressure to bear upon the Government to institute a general motor tax and apply it for main road improvements, or else urge the Government to take over complete control of the main roads. In the case of Taranaki County, an effort should be made to have the MoturoaOpunake line put in hand or a light railway constructed on the lines adopted by the Army in France and Belgium, which system, Mr. Massey has told us recently, is now being investigated by Major Vickerman. Just another point. Mr., Connett complained of the action of the press in commenting on the council's proposal before hearing the council's reasons and side of the case. Our answer is that the proper time for the council to explain the proposal was when it was being brought down, not afterwards. But the council could not have justified, in any shape qr form, a proposal that is inherently inequitable and objectionable. If the preßS had not at once drawn, attention to and exposed the weakness and unfairness of the proposed by-law it would have failed in its duty to the public.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19190624.2.19
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1919, Page 4
Word count
Tapeke kupu
696Untitled Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1919, Page 4
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taranaki Daily News. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.