MAIN HIGHWAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1922, Page 6

MAIN HIGHWAYS.

FURTHER DETAILS OF BILL. SCOPE OF THE BOARD. POSITION OF LOCAL BODIES. (By Wire —Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, Oct. 23. The Main Highways Bill provides for the constitution of the Highways Board, consisting of the chairman, appointed by the Government, one officer of the Public Works Department, .one member selected by the Counties’ Association, and one member representing the owners of motor vehicles. The hoard may divide New Zealand into highway districts, with a local committee consisting of an officer of the Department and one representative of each county in the district. The board may declare certain roads to ibe main highways and classify them primary and secondary'.

When the Bill was introduced, the Minister for Public Works, (the Hon. J. G. Coates), gave some explanation of the scope and intention of the measure. He said the proceeds of the tyre tax were to be allocated between the two islands on the basis of the number of motor cars in each island. The board was to prepare rt report and classify the main roads into “primary” and “secondary” groups. It would have about twelve months for this work. The Bill allocated certain money for expenditure by the board. This money included the proceeds of the tyre tax, and a sum of about £200,000 that had been spent by the Public Works Department on the construction and maintenance of roads, and certain other money that had been spent on roads. A road might be declared a Government road, and in that event the 'local authorities would not be required to make any contribution towards the maintenance of the road. The provision would meet the cases of important arterial roads that passed through very poor districts which could not reasonably be asked to contribute much to their support.

The board might decide, in the case of other roads, that the State would contribute one-third of the cost and the local bodies two-thirds. The State contribution would come from the funds controlled by the board. The Bill provided, continued the Minister, that the proceeds of the tyre tax might be used by the board to pay interest and sinking fund on loans raised for the conof roads. The local bodies generally would be expected to do the actual work according to standards laid down by the board, but the Bill provided that the board, from the funds at its disposal, might purchase modern road-making equipment for use where it was required.

Interest and sinking fund would be the first charge against the tyre tix when loans had been raised, and the balance could be used for the purchase of equipment, maintenance, and so forth. Th<? portion of the Bill relating to maintenance provided generally that the board would pay one-third and the local bodies two-thirds. There were certain exemptions. A road that had been declared a Government road might be maintained fully from the highways, account, and the board might recommend the allocation of money for the maintenance of a road through a borough. The Bill, said" the Minister, did not ileal with license fees at all. It .was anticipated that next year provision would be made for certain other funds to be raised by means of a tax on motor cars, or in some other form that would be entirely for maintenance. The idea was that the tyre tax would provide the capital account, and that some other form of taxation would provide the maintenance account. The Bill made provision for the creation of highway districts. These districts would consist of groups of counties with some community of interest. The Taranaki counties, for <?xample. might be constituted a highway district, with a committee that would deal with the main roads of the province.