MAIN HIGHWAYS BILL

Taranaki Daily News, 28 July 1921, Page 4

MAIN HIGHWAYS BILL

STATE TO FINANCE SCHEMF SPECIAL BOARD OF CONTROL. TAX ON MOTOR VEHICLES. By Telegraph —Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The Hon. J. G. Coates (Minister of Public Works) stated that next session he will introduce the Main Highways Bill. The scheme, which had received the approval of Cabinet, would make a new departure, eliminating local bodies from the matter of finance and control. The first would be provided by the Government, and the second would be under an independent board, without interference from the Government or the local body, the -former only interfering so far as was necessary to preserve Government control of the expenditure of Government money. The first roads to be declared arterial in the North Island would be the road from Kaitia to Wellington, via Auckland, Hamilton, Te Kuiti, Waitara and Wanganui, and the road from Wellington to Gisborne. In the South Island the arterial roads would be the road from Blenheim to the Bluff, and the road from Blenheim, via Nelson* to Hokitika. The Bill will propose that, finance be provided by:— (1) A special duty on tyres. (2) By a license fee apart from th<? local bodies’ registration fee on every four or three-wheeled motor vehicle, cycle and side-car. The license fee would be identical in amount for every four-wheeled vehicle without differentiation for weight or power. It was proposed that there should be another uniform fee for two-wheeled vehi* clcs, and a third uniform fee for two-( wheeled vehicles. (3) By money provided by Parliament annually from pulAic works or the Con-« solidated Fund. T The portions of arterial roads in cities or boroughs would be construetec ■md maintained out of city or borougl funds.