STRATFORD TOLL-GATE.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 May 1921, Page 6

STRATFORD TOLL-GATE.

THE DISPUTE OVER REVENUE. INGLEWOOD COUNTY’S POSITION. In reply to a further protest from the Inglewood County Council regarding the allocation of revenue from the Stratford toll-gate, the Minister of Public Works notified the Inglewood Council yesterday that he saw no reason to take up a different attitude from that already conveyed. The Minister said the toll-gate had not yet achieved the purpose for which it was set up and it did not seem reasonable that he should cancel an arrangement previously agreed to by all parties concerned. The setting up of the toll-gate was agreed to by the Taranaki County Council, of which the present Inglewood -County was a portion, and the Inglewood County was therefore in no different position from what the Stratford County was when it agreed to the setting up of the toll-gate. If a loan had been raised over the area that is now Inglewood County at the time it was part of Stratford County for the purpose of this road work, and Inglewood County ratepayers were paying rates on that loan while the whole of the expenditure was going on in the Stratford County, then perhaps there would be some ground for reconsidering the matter, but as he understood this was not the case he regretted that he could see no legitimate grounds for interfering in the direction indicated. Cr. Hunter considered that the Inglewood County Council should take other steps in the matter. He suggested that they should apply to the Minister of Internal Affairs for permission to erect a toll-gate on the north side of the Waipuku boundary, so that Inglewood County ratepayers could obtain some of the benefits from the toll collected from traffic that used the road. He accordingly/ moved in this direction. Cr. Simpson,' in seconding, said that while he did not altogether favor tollgates the resolution would draw attention to their protest agains the Stratford toll-gate. The chairman said that he would oppose the resolution, as he knew that the people of the district had for years been opposed to the principle of toll-gates. He did not think that any of the local bodies that were ■ applying for toll-gates would get them. If, however, the Government were to deal out toll-gates all around them the Inglewood County would have to seriously consider putting gates on all the main roads, but he considered that to erect a toll-gate between Ingibwood and Waipuku would persecute one section of the ratepayers and would not be equitable. Cr. Capper opposed toll-gates. Motor traffic was destructive to the roads, and the only solution was for the Government to give, a portion of the totalisator tax to local bodies for the maintenance of roads.

Cr. Simpson pointed out that the road from Waipuku to Inglewood was the main road from Wellington and carried all the traffic to the port, so was in a different position to other roads in the county- He was n °t altogether favorable to toll-gates but something should be done, and the erecting of toll-gates might bring about what Cr. Capper suggested. He also expressed, the opinion that if a vote of ratepayers were taken on the question of toll-gates, the result might surprise those who thought that ratepayers objected to them. The resolution was lost, only the tefiVes seconder voting for itt