NEW RECORDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 5

NEW RECORDS.

CUSTOMS RISE. WELLINGTON LEADS. HIGH TOTALS FOR YEAR. OOMIWIOW'S BUOYANT TRADE. Lifted high" on the wave of returning prosperity, and reflecting the revival m the spending of the pepole, and the recovery in business the Customs revenue in New Zealand for 1936 has touched record level*. Wellington led with a total of £4,137,460 for Customs, notor spirits duty and tyre tax, Auckland was next with £3,935,599, Ghristchurch *as third with £1,812,000 and Dunedin, with a total of about three-quarters of a million, ranked with several other ports as a lesser, but nevertheless important, inlet for imported jroods. Taken together, the four main litres produced in the twelve months a total revenue approaching closelv to £10,000,000, and when the returns for the ather ports are received it will be found he Customs yield for New Zealand In i 1936 has far exceeded anything attained £9,100,000 for the financial vear is likely to be eclipsed by a wide margain. The increases for the four cities suos?* a fa ' r 'y distributed increase of from 20 to 25 per cent on 1935, and tliis rate of increase appears to 'have been strongly maintained in the closing months of the year, particularly in the last quarter. At the lemsl now reached the Customs :s contributing twice as much in revenue as five years ago, and from this source alone the Government is collecting over £7 of taxation per head for every man woman and child in the Dominion. ' Customs Comparisons. The gain in Customs revenue recorded *t the port of Auckland in 1936 was 22 jer cent, as against an increase of only »} per cent the previous year. The collections under various headings for 1936 and 1935 respectively are ihown in the following table:— IS«C 1935. vX« 0 J M .W" M7MIO 2,656,902 Motor spirit .. 738,140 537 673 Tyre duty .... 27,040 se^eo Totals ... 3,935,599 3,220,835 Exctae on beer . 172,447 142 763 Sal «» 865,205 70i|g71 Following are the aggregate and per- - «entage increases for 1936 over 1935 the percentage increases for 1935 over 1934 being also given:— Per cent. Customs 513,517 "m "iP' Motor spirit ... 200,46 V 37.3 14 Tyre duty ' 780 2 r> .2 „ Total 714,764 22.2 3 5 Excise on beer.. 29 684 20.8 79 Sa, «» tax 163,634 23.3 11.7 Grand total 908,082 22.3 3.5 Expanding Revenue. The recovery of Customs revenue over the past six years is striking. Below are the total Auckland figures for each year and the net figures, the latter bein<* exclusive of mot. - spirit end tyre duties. For -the purposes of the present computations motor spirit duty is calculated at the old rate of 6d a gallon, the balance being included in ordinary L Customs revenue:—

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, Friday. A-large increase in imports into the port of Dunedin is shown by the Customs duty paid for December, £65,793, which "' is an increase of £0130 over the total for December, 1935, and is the largest amount of duty paid for one month since September, 1934. Sales tax also shows a big increase over the figures for December, 1935, giving a good indication of the freer circulation of money. The following are the figures for December, 1936, those for December, 1035, being given in parentheses: Customs duty, £05,793 (£56,663); beer duty, £28,068 (£28,978); sales tax, £27,139 (£22,855); petrol tax, £17,117 4£ 14,280); tyre tax, £402 (£480); gold duty, £974 (£2793). The following are the totals for the nine months period AprilDecember, 1936, and 1935: Customs duty, £543,609. (£479,305); beer duty ; £201,953 (£179,370); sales tax, £215,809 (£187,889); petrol tax, £124,459 (£104,040); tyre tax, £5520 (£6436); gold duty, £10,415 (£17,472). WELLINGTON'S TOTAI.. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Friday. New high records were established ■luring the year just... ended . by the Custom* reveftues collected at Wellmg- ; ton. The figures for ttie 12 months, with those for 1,035 in parentheses, are: Customs, £3,203,070 (£2,692,764); sales tax, £1,084,830 (£870,049); motor- spirit duty, £823(236 (£648,822); tyre tax, £21,360 (£24;062). ;The December .figure*, with those "of December; .1935, are: . Customs, £270,546 (£224,896);-sale*, tax, £103,411 (£82,830); motor spirit, £86,120 <m AoQ) i tax, £1504 (£2200). *

RISE. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, Friday. Customs revenue and other dues colo £ e i, a n-o hrißtch T h in 1936 "iSJI to i 301,009 more than in 1935. Revenue finder every head, except tyre duty, increased greatly. The total from all sources for the year was fl 812 256 compared with £1,510,597 in 1935. Detailed increases for the year were£m^\ dut l\ £162 ' 854 ' «ales tax, The figures for December were as follow, those for 1935? beW £77 P lSm the r S: , Custpms « «Mlf (£77,130)3 bier duty, £13,324 (£9022) • SJ? 7 ' 653 ,^ 28 ' 229 )' tyredSy', (£l7 6691 h m ° tor *V Tit tax >

Total. Ordinary. ] 1931 ... 2,134,855 1,604,774 j 1032 ... 2,454,542 1,967,569 1933 ... 2.758,840 2,256 623 1934 .... 3,166,676 2,608010 1935 ... 3,220,835 2,656,902 i 1936 ... 3,935,599 3,170,419 Collections of. motor spirit duty on the basis mentioned, and of tyre duty ' •vor six years, are as follow:— J * Motor Spirit. Tyres. Jgfl 499.012 31,069 1 jrtti J»|2 461,876 25,097 , J»§3 481,881 20,336 1934 ) 532,466 26,200 f 1935 537,673 26.260 1 1936 738,140 27,040 Monthly returns covering ordinary 1 Customs revenue and motor spirit and c lyre duties for the past two years are as 1 follow:— g CUSTOMS. 8 1936. 1935. £ & i January 240,660 223,687 ' February 230,905 211,574 I March :. 293,267 209,524 e April 260,448 211,776 May 232,243 211,355 ' June 238,626 180,647 ' July 260,431 196,306 t August 272,666 217,467 September 261,290 235,658 October 267,588 261,038 November 301,220 232,793 irecember 302,075 264,987 Totals 3,170,419 2,056,902 MOTOR SPIRIT AND TYRES. 1936. . 1935. I £ £ January 59,934 53,658 February 54,461 48,942 , March 114,798 51,254 April 55,154 £0,910 May 56,752 53,183" June 56,215 36,728 July 58,274 33,003 August 52,133 25,059 b September 56,686 47,953 + October 01,223 51,394 November 63,200 50,675 ~ December 76,348 61,174 o Totals 765,180 563,933 .. IMPROVEMENTS AT DUNEDXir. ?