DUTY PAID ON CAR

Press, Volume C, Issue 29680, 25 November 1961, Page 12

DUTY PAID ON CAR

Legless Man Seeks Refund (NZ. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Nov. 24. A legless former serviceman has petitioned Parliament for the refund of £367 Customs duty paid on bringing his specially-fitted car into New Zealand. He is Captain J Schenirer, of Hemuera, Auckland. In his petition, presented today, he said he arrived in N?w Zealand on October 24 this year and had to pay the duty on the car, although he had applied for Customs-free entry. He said he purchased the car in Australia in May. At that time he was not aware of his later marriage in New Zealand, nor of his decision to stay in this country. Captain Schenirer said he was a limbless serviceman of the Second World War. In Australia he acquired the car free of 30 per cent, sales tax and was to have a new ear every two years, or after 25.000 miles. In Wellington he was told that only an Act of Parliament could allow the refund of the £367. Of that sum £3OO had to be borrowed. He was married late in August and the repayment was causing serious financial embarrassment. For 14 years his wife was supporting her aged widowed mother and was still doing so. The mother was a British subject and had no income or social benefits. “The ear, with special fittings for my disability, is not a luxury, but an essential means of transport as I am unable to walk any distances or use public conveyances in peak traffic hours,” said Captain Schenirer The petition was referred to the Industries and Commerce Comm-‘tee.