IMPORT STOCKS LOW

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21198, 23 June 1934, Page 14

IMPORT STOCKS LOW

WORKING ON SMALL j MARGIN TARIFF RATE CHANGES EXPECTED In view of impending changes in the customs tariff during the coming session of Parliament, and in view of what is considered a possible alteration in the exchange rate, importers are working geneially on a very small margin. Mr V. E.' Hamilton, president of the Canterbury Importers' Association, explained yesterday that importers stocks were so low that most of them had small consignments of goods on the water almost continuously. A message from Wellington yesterday stated that some importers, with cargo on the Wanganella, which returned to Sydney without discharging, were uncertain about their position if tariff changes were made before their goods were actually landed in New Zealand. There was a possibility that on some of these goods there might be an increase in duty, and on others a decrease. Mr Hamilton explained that the amount of cargo taken back to Australia by the Wanganella —2OO tons—was very small ana that any tariff changes could affect the importers concerned only slightly. Besides, much of the cargo might be duty-free, as large quantities of free goods had oeen coming from Australia recently. Discharge During Changes It was also stated in Wellington that a clause might be included in the Customs Amendment Bill to exempt ships at sea lrom the changes, but Mr Hamilton considered that there was little if any chance of this being done. When the last tariff were made there were certain difficulties arising from the imposition of the new dutv on cargo discharged in .some ports, while the old and lower duty was exacted on sections of the same cargo discharged at others. A ship might arrive at Auckland or Wellington iust before the change and North Island importers might indent their goods under the old rales. The new rates might "ome into operation before the same ship readied the South Island to discharge a section of the same cargo. Thus, with rising tariff rates. South Island importers might be at a disadvantage. The opposite might, of course, occur with a reduction in the rates, such as that anticipated (iii some goods in the near future, but some regulation was desirable by which a cargo might be made subject to a uniform tariff at all ports and over the whole period of its discharge. The customs regulations now in force, relating to the treatment of goods being brought into the country during changes in the schedule, state that goods already imported and cleared are subject to the old rates,, and also that, in the case of goods imported but not cleared, the importer can pay at the most favourable rate.