D.—l.

Finance. The actual contributions to the Board's Kevenue Fund from external sources for the year 1930-31 amounted to £1,745,536. The tabulation below shows how this amount is made up. The income from similar sources during the previous five years is also shown : —

The elimination of the first item in the table for the year 1930-31 has already been explained, the effect of the relevant amending legislation being that the whole of the Board's revenue is now derived from special motor - taxation. With regard to the proceeds of the Customs tax on tires and tubes, the figures again reveal a substantial reduction, the receipts being £94,000 less than in 1925-26, when the number of vehicles registered was about 43 per cent, of the present number. To indicate the enormous reduction in another way, the tire-tax in 1924-25 amounted to £1 12s. sd. per motorvehicle as compared with lis. 3d. per motor-vehicle in 1930-31. These figures indicate how unreliable the tire-tax is as a form of revenue for a road-controlling authority. In the above table the proceeds from the motor-spirits tax for 1930-31 show a large increase on the previous year. The chief reason for this increase — namely, the imposition of an additional customs duty "of 2d. per Imperial gallon of motor-spirits —has already been mentioned. The total amount of petrol-tax collected by the Customs Department for the year was £1,417,294, and of this amount £102,844 was refunded to persons entitled to exemption under the Motor-spirits Taxation Act. After charges for collection and for making refunds were deducted, the balance available for distribution amounted to £1,300,050, of which £1,219,209 was credited to the Main Highways Revenue Account, and £80,841 was paid to cities and boroughs of a population of more than six thousand, the allocation being made on a population basis. For the year ending 31st March, 1931; the expenditure under the Revenue Fund was as follows : — Expenditure. £ North Island .. .. .. .. ■■- . • •• 516,840 South Island 355,737 Administration charges .. .'*'■ .. .. .. .• 38,449 Commission paid to Post and Telegraph Department for collection of motor-registration and license fees and registration of change of ownership .. .. .. .. .. .. ■ • 20,901 Subsidies on rates of local authorities (Finance Act, 1930) .. .. 219,316 Miscellaneous payments, including recoupment of interest on loans to Consolidated Fund and reserve for redemption of main-highway securities .. .. .. . • ■ • • • ■ • 234,897 Total £1,386,140 An analysis of the expenditure by the Board and by local authorities on actual maintenance, as distinct from interest on loans and other overhead charges, is shown in the tabulation below. This tabulation has been subdivided to show^ —firstly, the expenditure on the original system of main highways; secondly, the expenditure on the additional main highways declared in 1928 ; and, thirdly, the expenditure on the whole system.

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1924-25. 1925-26. 1926-27. 1927-28. i 1928-29. 1929-30. 1980-31. £ £ £ £ £ £ £ Transfer from Consolidated Fund .. 35,000 35,000 35,000 35,000 35,000 35,000 Proceeds of tax on tires and tubes 161,986 223,699 188,450 219,658 196,747 | .155,722 129,188 collected through the Customs Department Registration and license fees of motor- 268,178 78,038 283,963 303,861 341,017 378,135 397,139 vehicles Motor-spirits tax .. ... 130,461 730,414 873,369 1,219,209 Totals .. .. .. 465,164 336,737 507,413 688,980 1,303,178 1,442,226 1,745,536

T . Percentage Percentage T, j, Local t> j> 6 Local „ B ,°™ d , s Authorities' Total. „ + *l d 5 nn Authorities' Contribution. Contribution i Contribution to aotal. tQ Total (1) Original highway system — £ £ £ North Island .. .. 402,022 163,454 [ 565,476 71-09 28-91 South Island .. .. 276,273 72,234 348,507 79-27 20-73 678,295 235,688 [ 913,983 74-21 25-79 (2) Additional highways declared 1928— North Island .. '•,.•! 114,818 53,278 168,096 68-30 31-70 South Island .. .. 79,464 28,873 108,337 73-35 26-65 194,282 82,151 I 276,433 70-28 29-72 I 1 , (3) Complete system — North Island .. .. 516,840 216,732 I 733,572 70-45 29-55 South Island .. .. 355,737 101,107 456,844 77-87 22-13 872,577 317,839 1,190,416 73-30 26-70