GOLD EXPORT TAX.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 180, 1 August 1935, Page 9

GOLD EXPORT TAX.

SHOULD BE LIFTED ? WAIHI REPRESENTATIONS. MINISTERS IN REPLY. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WAIHI, this day. Letters from the . acting - Trime Minister, Sir Alfred Ransom, and others acknowledging receipt of tho following resolution protesting against the gold export duty of 12/ C per ounce, passed at the hist meeting of the council, were received at the monthly meeting of the Waihi Borough Council last evening.

The resolution was as follows: '"That this council considers the time has arrived when in the interests of the gold mining industry generally the gold export tax of 12/ C per ounce should be lifted, for the following reasons: The imposition of the tax is discouraging to overseas investors, seriously retards development work and prospecting operations, especially at a depth, prevents tho working of large deposits of low-grade ore and materially limits employment and swells the ranks of the unemployed." Sir Alfred Ransom and the Hon. C. E. Macniillan assured the council that the matter would have the full consideration of the Government. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. M. J. Savage, stated that he would be glad to support the representations made. "I have fought this tax on every possible occasion since its inception, and I am of the same opinion as your council, namely, that in the interests of the industry it should be lifted," stated the member for Thames, Mr. A. M. Samuel. "I will do all I possibly can in this direction and am writing to the Ministers concerned endorsing the protest." Another note was struck by the Minister of Finance, the Hon. A. Hamilton. "It is pointed out," he wrote, "that whereas the prices of practically every other commodity have fallen substantially during the past two years, the price of gold has reached record levels, and allowing for exchange it now stands at about £8 15/ an ounce, an increase of over 100 per cent compared with the price ruling a few years ago. In these circumstances a tax of 12/6 an ounce cannot be considered anything like as burdensome as some other taxes which the public were called upon to bear during the economic crisis."

The communications were received without comment.