ARTERIAL ROADS.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 July 1921, Page 5

ARTERIAL ROADS.

GOVERNMENT’S SCHEME. LOCAL BODIES ELIMINATED. MOTOR LICENSES AND TYRiE TAX. The Minister of Public Works (the Hon J. G. Coates) on Wednesday gave a Dominion reporter an outline of the Arterial Jtoada Bill that is to be placed before Parliament during the coming session. The Bill will propose that Arterial roads shall be a national charge. They will be constructed and m aintained by an Arterial Roads Board, and will be supported by special taxation on motor vehicles and tyres. “The question of arterial road communication has I'een receiving my attention ever since I hav,e been Minister of Public Works,” said Mr. Coates. “Several Bills were drafted, each involving the local bodies in the administration of the scheme, but I eventually cams to the conclusion that the problem wan essentially a national one, involving national control. Therefore, as will be seen in the accompanying statement, which has received the approval of Cabinet, J. have made a new departure by eliminating the local bodies from the scheme.

“The Bill has not been printed, but it will be prepared for the Government printer exactly on the linen indicated in this statement. Therefore, local bodies and all interested in the matter can take this statement as a clear indication of what is proposed. The Bill will simply put the scheme into statutory form. GROWTH OF MOTOR TRAFFIC. “The development of motor traffic in recent years has greatly altered the conditions of travel and created the necessity for improvement of our main highways. Formerly, rapid traffic by land, whether of passengers or goods, was effected solely by means of railway facilities, and the objective in road construction and maintenance was to provide ways sufficient for horse-drawn, wheeled traffic, feeding the railways where railways existed, and providing the means of conveyance within and between localities. It has now become clear in all parts of the world which are closely inhabited that to a large extent the rapid traffic of the future will be conducted by motors equipped with rubber tyres, and requiring therefore a much higher i class of construction, and more extensive maintenance, of the road surface, i The original policy of constructing ar- : terial railways must therefore now be i supplemented* by the construction and 'maintenance to a higher degree of perfection of arterial highways. Railways iwere—and with few exceptions still arc I -—constructed and maintained wholly out of Dominion funds, without subvention from local finance. The present exceptions to that rule are that the local* bodies are now permitted to construct and maintain, out of local finance, light railways to feed and supplement the main arterial railways. “The policy to be regarded in the future, and to be adopted as far as is possible for the present with respect to roads should be upon the same general lines as the policy of roads and railways in the past. Main arterial roads? should be constructed, reconstructed, and ma : n- i tained by the Dominion as a, whole, , while roads of a purely local interest, or I county interest, must be constructed end maintained wholly bv local body 1 finance, with such assistance from the j Government in the way of grants for I construction and subsidies for metalling as the financial circumstances of the Dominion will permit.

TOLLS REJECTED. “But in the case of railways, the pro- . virion for maintenance and for paying I interest upon cost of construction is i made by charges upon those who use I the railway, whether as passengers or ! for goods traffic, and the same must be the case in regard to the nrovirion of Dominion finance for the construction and maintenance of arterial highways to enable rapid motor traffic to be conducted. One simple method of such provision w'ould be to establish tolls on the arterial highways for the collection of charges, as the charged are collected at railway stations on railways, and that simple method would have the idvnntage of charging ordinarjr horse or steam -drawn wheeled traffic as jjvell ns motor traffic. But the collection by toll venient, obsolete and often unfair in its of charges for the use of roads is inconincidence, and must necessarily be rejected in any well-eonsidered policy. Other methods must therefore be adopted to effect the same object, namely, that the class of vehicles and of persons for which and whom tlie means of rapid traffic are provided should contribute a large proportion of the cost to the Dominion. It is to be borne in mind that existing main road conditions are generally quite adequate foi* any form of transport, other than what may be termed finch speed, traffic/ in other words, motor traffic. “The Government proposes by the Bill to be introduced in the coming session, effective provision for the construction, I reconstruction and maintenance of such : main roads us may be declared arterial | highways out of Dominion finance, re- ; lieving local finance of all cost and

charge in respect of such arterial highways, and thereby increasing the amount which, out of local finance, tho local authorities can provide for the better construction and maintenance of district. and county roads, and enable the necessary annual supply of Dominion funds for the first purpose. “To prevent the policy above defined collapsing in its earliest stages, it is essential that the roads to be defined as main arterial highways during the first few years of the operation of the. Act should be strictly limited in extent, and therefore many roads which it is believed will ultimately come within the definition of main arterial highways, can be transferred from local burden to Dominion finances, must, for the time, present, be excluded, and the present; effort limited to eflcelive construelion and maintenance of a much less extent I of roadway. “The second essential requirement is that as far as possible the expenditure j of moneys provided out of Dominion ' finance for maintenance and construction of main arterial highways should. be removed from political or parochial influence of every kind. It is only in dealing with main highways under a j comprehensive policy free from all local influence that material progress and improvement can be achieved within rea- ■ sonable time. “The determination of the particular , part of a. highway to be constructed, re- | constructed or "maintained, and of the J particular parts of a highway requiring special and exceptional expenditure on maintenance should be left to an independent expert board, without interference from Government or Parliament, Ao far as la necaiiwjr to

; the Government control of expenditure of Government money. FEATURES OF THE BILL. “The Bill to be submitted for consideration of Parliament will propose provision for:— 11. The definition of what shall be for the I present main arterial highways for ! the purposes of the Bill. ’2. Tire constitution of a board of deI partmental engineers and other gentlemen under whose control both the arterial highways and all iu<. neys I funded for the purpose of the conI struction and maintenance of such ' Highways shall be placed. 13. Finance.-—The first roads to be declar I ed main arterial highways will be: — l In the North Island: A road iroin ; Kaitaia to Wellington, via Auckland, j Hamilton, Te Kuiti, Waitara, and 1 ' Wanganui. A road from Wellington to Gisborne. In the South Island: A road from Blenheim to the Bluff, and a road from Blenheim, via Nelson, to Hokitika. “The Bill will propose that finance shall be provided: 1 (1) By ft special duty on tyres. J (2) By a license fee (apart; from, local i body registration fee) on every four I or three-wheeled motor vehicle, motor cycle, and side car and motor , cycle. It is proposed that the license fee should be identical in amount for every I four-wheeled vehicle, without deferi entiation for weight or power, and | that there should be another uni- ; form fee less in amount for threewheeled vehicles, and a third uni- ’• form fee for two-wheeled vehicle . 1(3) By money provided by Parliament annually from either the Public Works Fund or Consolidated Fund. i “It must be added that where part of | a main arterial highway is a street or a icity or borough, such p.irt will c-intinuc 'to be constructed and maintained as at jpresent out of .city or borough funds. It 'is not proposed that the Board of Main Arterial Highways shall have any power , or duty in respet t of the streets of a borough or city. Having regard to the • opportunity offered in cities and bor--1 oughs of more .intensive taxation on highly valued property, and the fact .that high-speed traffic and its conse- . quent destruction of roads is not permissible or possible to anything like the [same extent in boroughs or cities it I is. on the open road, the exclusion of main highways in boroughs and cities from the operation of the Bill is considered fair and reasonable.