WHO SHOULD PAY?

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 59, Issue 101, 31 May 1930, Page 3

WHO SHOULD PAY?

THE FARMER AND COUNTRY ROADS. QUESTIONS OF RATING FOR ROAD MAINTENANCE. A NATIONALISED SYSTEM REQUIRED. With the growth of motoring aud of motor transport in the Dominion, the cost of maintenance and upkeep of our roads is increasing year by year. At tlie present time the amount collected from motor owners runs into about a million sterling per annum and there is every mdication tliat tlie tax will be mcreased m the immediate fnture. Hie old system of placing the cost of the upkeep of the roads upon the landowners of tlie Dominion lias now heen recognised as unjust and tlie timo is coiunig fast when tlie Dominion will be naturiahsed to an extent in respect to its roading system whieh will ensure that every road user will pay according to his use. Farm traffic these days is becomiug strictly limited. In our own province of Hawke's Bay stock driving is becoming more and more diffioult with the increasing motor traffic. One has only to visit any Hawke's Bay stock sale to gain an impression of the growth of popularitv of motor transport for the shifting of stock. The farmer who sends his stock to a sale 'by lorry pays his share of the tax Avith wliich the lorry owner is mulcted for road maintenance and pays out on a similar basis on the fertilisers, stores, fencing materials and other requirements that are brought to his property by means of motor transport. And yet the farmer in Hawke's Bay, as elsewhere, paying out on the same basis as the man in towu for his use of tlie roads in the form of motor taxation is also called upon to pay out in tlie form of county rates. When tlie wliole matter is pondered on the basis. of the equity of things, the conclusion must be arrived at that there should be no couuty rates for the purpose of road maintenance. The time has conie in this Dominion for the evolution of some scbeme to ensure that the cost of using all our roads will he evenly distributed amongst all users. Leaving the main highways out of the question altogether for a moment, 75 per cent. of the traffic on other public roads has no connection with the farmer or the farming industry, yet the farmer is called upon to meet the entire cost of keeping them in order and at the same time to pay for his motoring at the same rate as the town dweller. The question obviously demands a remedy, 'but the finding thereof is undoubtedlv going to be difficult. It will take a master mind to taekle the question and find a solution wlfich will be equitable to all parties concerned. In the meantime the farmer must simply go on paying and live in hope.