D.—l

It will be noted that income from revenue sources for the year 1938-39 was £207,912 greater than the previous highest figure for the year immediately preceding. The receipts from Customs tax on tires and tubes show a decrease of £9,509. The registration, license fees, &c., constitute a record to date, being £51,317 in excess of last year's figure and £29,407 above the previous highest total, which was in the year 1936 37. The proceeds from the motor-spirits tax were also very much higher for the year 1938-39, being £164,792 greater than the previous year's total, and represents the largest sum which has been credited to the Main Highways Account from this source in any one year. The revenue for the year 1938-39 which was derived from the mileage-tax levied on motorvehicles using other than motor-spirits and trackless trolly-omnibuses again showed an increase, being £1,312 greater than for the year immediately preceding, and the highest for any one year to date. The following graph shows the amount of petrol on which duty was paid during the last ten calendar years, together with the number of motor-vehicles (excluding trailers) licensed at the 31st December of each year. These figures are useful as providing an index of maintenance and construction requirements arising from the actual use of motor-vehicles on the highways : —

TTie petrol-consumption shown in the graph relates to the gross amount in respect of which taxation is initially paid, and therefore actually includes a quantity of petrol on which a portion of the tax is later rebated. The rebate applies to certain internal-combustion machines, &c., which do not use the public highways. However, the proportion of petrol consumed by such machines, &c., is fairly constant, so that the graph indicates to a sufficient degree of accuracy the number of licensed motor-vehicles in relation to their usage of the roads.

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