Camera Duties Distress N.Z. Visitors To Britain

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28539, 19 March 1958, Page 11

Camera Duties Distress N.Z. Visitors To Britain

(from the London Corr. LONDON. New Zealand visitors to Bntain whose stay may exceed 12 months, are facing extraordinarily Heavy customs duties and purchase tax payments upon personal effects, especially cameras, even though they may hot Be hew. This is causing fingriciai embarrassment and distress to hundreds of New Zealand students, Schoolteachers and young persons who may have saved for years to make a trip abroad, and bought a camera in the Dominion before leaving to ensure a photographic record of what may be a dnCe-ih-a-lifetime trip. The extraordinarily penal nature of British customs duties and purchase tax impositions on Commonwealth visitors to Britain has been emphasised in a series of letters published in the “Manchester Guardian" recently The worst feature revealed by these letters is the fact that the duty and tax are not assessed on the “retail” or “list” price df the goods in Britain but the “market” value which, in the case of cameras not easily obtainable in Britain, amounts to a black-market price. Another unfortunate feature, which a Canadian student has pointed out, is the secrecy of British laws on Such duties and taxes. He hai urged that such tax information be widely distributed to travel agencies ahd Cohiihonweajth customs departments by the British representatives in the various Commonwealth countries. Inquiries The New Zealand customs representatives in London are continually receiving inquiries and requests for advice frbm scores Of bewildered and unsuspecting New Zealand visitors and students facipg heavy tax and duty assessments. As the New Zealand authorities have no jurisdiction in such matters they are unable to help or back their case ahd can only refer the disillusioned visitors tn the appropriate department in Whitehall. Out of the hundreds of letters which have been sent to the British authorities by New Zealanders in recent years only ohe is known to have had Sympathetic treatment. This was in the case of Dr. T. T. Barrow, ethnologist at the Dominion Museum, when the fidyal Society of New Zealand sponsored him On a mission to photograph valuable collections df Maori art In Britain and European museums A refundable deposit on a considerable sum was allowed on the camera he brought to make the record. If d New Zealander is in Britain less than 12 months he may still be embarrassed by having to make payment of a heavy deposit on his camera. Such deposit is forfeited should his stay exceed tOS days. Only last week a young New!

mondent of "The Prut") £edlahd teacher burst into tears at Southampton when her camera as taken , from her .because of her inability to pay the heavy duty and tax assessment. pike “any Others she has hopefully entered into correspondence with the British authorities.

PerMnal Effects Because the New Zealand Government regards cameras as personal effects of both New Zealanders and visitors and does not impose any duties or taxes, no inatter how long the stay. New Zealanders coming to Britain tend to expect the same treatment. Consequently, they are finding the British Government’S insistence on taxes and duties particularly harsh. This is all the more apparent when it is fduhd that the British authorities take nd account whatever of any customs duties and sales tax payments which may have been included in the purchase price of the goods in New Zealand.

When the question was raised last week at a Commonwealth correspondents’ press . conference with the Secretary of State for Commonwealth ■ Relations (the Earl of Home) the matter was quickly passed over as a matter of no consequence or importance No British Government publication, available either in Britain or the Commonwealth, drawing attention to the duties or giving intending visitors Warning, could be cited.

A written question asking whether there was any reason why Commonwealth and New Zealand visitors should not be permitted to make payment of refundable deposits, where the stay exceeded one year, remained unanswered.

Perhaps the most unfortunate feature of the stand takeh by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the indifference of the British Government to the position, is the sense of Injustice being felt by New Zealanders arising from the black-market basis tot assessment and the fact that they are apparently being regarded by the British Exchequer as a lucrative source of revenue.