THE CUSTOMS ACT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2732, 29 March 1916, Page 7

THE CUSTOMS ACT

DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER.

A deputation, consisting of the president of the- Wellington Chamber of Commerce, 'Mr '.las. Mttclntpsli, and a number of its hioniucrs, waited upon tho Hon. Arthur Myers, Minister of Customs, yesterday afternoon, with tho viow of bringing wider his notice tho difficulties under which tho commerciu'l community wore labouring by I tho requirement of tho Customs Act that import duty should bo assessed on tho value at the time of shipment, instead of at the time the order was placed. Tho doputation stressed the point that tenderers,wore at a disadvantage in so far as any increase in duty between the date of order and date of shipment was not recognised by tho parties who recoived the goods, and it was impossible in most cases to give a definite price to cover this increased cost.

The Minister, in reply,, stated that ho recognised l tho conditions were somewhat accentuated owing to the war, and intimated that tho Customs authorities would give every consideration to matters concerned with this portion of. the Act, with the view of dislocating trade ■as little as possible. i•' ', Reference was. also made by _ the deputation to the position of the importation of goods from enemy countries, which, of course, at : thc present ■ time ia. prohibited and in order to dispel an impression that had been freely circulated regarding the 50 per cent, additional taxation provided for'in the Finance Act on goods which might be imported from these sources' after/the war, the Minister : pointed out that it was not meant that there should bo only n 50 per cent, duty on such goods,, but that it'should 1 bo'additional tb : all 'other duties payable. For instance, in cases where there was an ordinary duty of 25 per cent, on a certain article imported, and d"'l2J per- cent, preferential surtax on those goods "which were- of. foreign manufacture, the duty on similar goods imported after the war from enemy countries would be S7J per cent-, i.e., 50 per cent, in addition to tho duty already chargeable on these goods imported from neutral or Allied countries.