TAX ON CARS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 May 1939, Page 7

TAX ON CARS

ENTERING WELLINGTON FROM OTHER AREAS. PROPOSED BY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. A suggestion that-all cars, owned by persons living beyond the boundaries of Wellington and paying no rates, should be taxed 6d for .the privilege of entering the city has been made by the chairman of the reserves and staff committees of the Wellington City Council, Mr W. Duncan. Such a tax, he believes, would lessen traffic and parking congestion and help to provide revenue.for street purposes. “From tallies taken and from my own observation I should say that 50 per cent of the cars that litter up our streets every day belong to people who live outside the city of Wellington, and who, in most cases, are not even ratepayers of Wellington,”: said Mr Duncan yesterday. “I fail to see why thousands of cars from outside should be allowed to come in every day and choke up the city streets without so much as a ‘Thank you.’ "They all have to come into the city by the Hutt Road. If each car-driver were taxed fid for the privilege of entering the city and using its streets for driving and parking, it might lessen the number slightly and bring in a considerable amount of revenue lot’ r.ireet purposes during the year. “It may be said that adjacent boroughs .would retaliate by making a charge for city cars. Well, let them. I do not see why a person from Wellington who wants to park for an hour or two in the shopping area of Lower Hutt or Petone should not pay for the privilege. In a number of cities overseas a charge is mace for parking. "The city council’s chief concern is to make a greater part of the streets available for moving traffic and business. For example, some warehouses make two deliveries a day to the retail shops. It is essential that the cars from the warehouses should be able to park in front of the shops in order to deliver their goods in minimum time. But what do we find? Sometimes they cannot get within 100 yards of the shop for cars that may belong to someone from Hutt or Porirua. * “It seems hard to bar cars from the suburbs, but something drastic will have to be done if the streets are to l?e made usable in the ordinary .way for business purposes.”