D.—l.

An analysis of the Board's expenditure and the by local authorities, for the year 1935-36, under the Construction Fund shows the following position

The following tabulation shows the amounts which have been provided by the Board and the local authorities on both maintenance and construction during the last ten years : —

The maintenance figures in the above tabulation exclude indirect charges such as supervision, interest, &c., but include the cost of earthquake and flood damage restoration. It will be noticed that under both maintenance and construction expenditure the figures show an increase on the expenditure of recent years. The following statement shows the total expenditure by the Board in each Island from both Revenue and Construction Funds for the financial year ended 31st March, 1936. The figures include administration charges : —

Unfortunately it has not yet been possible for the Government to arrange for all current expenditure on highways works to be met from revenue, but, as the cost of interest and sinking fund payments is already a very large annual charge against revenue, the Board has, on several occasions, made strong representations concerning the use of loan-money for highways purposes. Quite apart from the consideration as to whether or not the classes of work being carried out should be met from revenue moneys, the position concerning the Board is that the annual charges in respect of loans have steadily increased and a very substantial liability must now be met each year.

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Board's , If™ 1 . , T t , IWntegeof Loc^Ta?,SL' — Contribution. «-»■ Conation to £ £ £ North. Island .. .. 235,755 58,134 293,889 80-22 19-78 South Island .. .. 192,269 20,129 212,458 90-53 9-47 Totals.. .. 428,024 78,263 506,347 84-54 15-46

1926-27. 1927-28. 1928-29. 1929-30. 1930-31. J 1931-32. 1932-33. ! 1933-34. 1934-35. 1935-36. £££££££££ £ Maintenance by Board .. 438,762 523,581 7.56,3991,049,249 872,577 849,734 600,324 674,026 932,6751,190,179 Maintenance by local autho- 276,349 269,065 284,526 375,849 317,839 215,568 168,466 187,735 226,554 284,423 Construction by Board .. 540,362 449,904 936,148 1.007,957 667,902 361,969 159,323 198,295 325,483 428,084 Construction by local autho- 255,860 262,538 214,155 203,148 150,984 94,973 43,181 55,997 57,975 78,263 ntl0 Totals .. .. 1,511,3331,505,0882,191,2282,636,2032,009,3021,522,244 971,2941,116,0531,542,6871,980,949 Percentages. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Maintenance by Board .. 61-4 66-0 72-7 73-6 73-3 79-8 78-1 78-2 ® Maintenance by local autho- 38'6 34-0 27'3 26'4 26'7 20-2 21-9 21-8 19-5 19-3 Construction by Board .. 67-9 63-1 81-4 83-3 81-6 79-2 77-6 77-0 Construction by local autho- 32-1 36-9 18-6 16-7 18-4 20-8 22-4 23-0 15-1 lo-o rities • . ___

Total Percentage __ Expendta, Expenditure Maintenance. j On^etta. £ i £ £ North Island .. .. •• 798,328 244,020 1,042,348 62-23 South Island 433,575 199,072 632,647 37-77^ Totals .. 1,231,903 443,092 j 1,674,995 100-00