The New Customs Ordinance.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume VI, Issue 430, 12 August 1851, Page 2

The New Customs Ordinance.

The former Customs Ordinance was, doubtless, in many respects objectionable ; but it ought not to have been overlooked that it went on smoothly enough. There was no outcry against it. What is of more importance— indeed the great point so far as the Government is concerned — the old Tariff produced upwards of £20,000— uot merely a reasonable, but a very large revenue, with which the Government ought to have been well contented. Indeed, that amount must bo admitted to be a large sum, and a heavy tax to be raised from so small a community. Why therefore was the Customs Ordinance disturbed? We can discover no reason but the mere determination to screw a still greater amount of taxation out of the Colonists,— an attempt the more objectionable as the* Revenues seem collected, not for the purpose of being applied to works of improvement and in the development of the resources' of the Colony,' but for being squandered in keeping up hosts of unnecessary offices; to the great injury— not merely of the general welfare, but to that of the really necessary establishments ; the. subordinate officers of which are, in many instances, most inadequately remunerated. Having opened afresh the subject^ of taxation and Customs duties, we, jhad a right to expect that the defects of the old system would have been remedied ;— that principles of taxation would 'have-been in-^ troduced in accordance with the spirit of the age ; keeping pace, at least, with the changes adopted in the tariff of the mother country. A f bove all, we had a rigbfc to expect that an attempt would have been made to raise a revenue with some degree of fairness and impartiality— not favouring one class of individuals, or one industrial occupation, at the expense of another. The reverse, however, of all 'this is tobe 4 found in the patchwork legislation now under review. • We have looked very earnestly through the Ordinance in the hope of finding out the principles— if any— upon which it has been framed; but must confess our inability to discover them. While a very large increase of Revenue will for a time, at least — be the result, it is obvious that Revenue is not the sole object in view, as many articles are admitted duty free. Neither does the principle of protection to the rising branches of Colonial industry appear €o have been adopted as a ' leading object ; as what is attempted to be done for one interest is undone by injury to some other interest. 1 1 is'not even worthy, therefore, of the name of protection-; as that is but another word for injustice, if it is only to be accomplished by robbing some other interest of an equal amount. While there may be some defence made for the principle of protecting one colony or country from the effects of foreign competition, there can be no excuse whatever for the barefaced injustice of favouring one interest, or one set of individuals, at the expense of an other interest, or other individuals of the same community. Row gross the injustice therefore of the principle involved in the remarks of the Governor-in-Chief on the Tobacco Duties, in stating that "If the sheepowners are allowed to have tobacco duty free, it would be necessary to make good the loss by taxing other interests. 1 ' In looking at the new Tariff and the reports of the discussions thereon, we are particularly struck with the absence of any manifestation of> a desire even to adjust the duties so as to protect those who pay them, ' against the unfair, competition of those who, do not. In a country like this, with harbours in all directions, where smuggling can be carried on without molestation or interruption with no coast guard or other means at the disposal of the Government, to protect the Revenue and the fair trader, it was to have been expected that a most discriminating judgment would have been applied, so as to meet these peculiar circumstances. That, in short, the duties would have been so nicely adjusted as to produce the greatest amount of Revenue — without, at the same time, diminishing consumption, or encouraging the temptations to smuggle and evade the laws. This very important point has been most culpably neglected ; and being so, exposes the Government to the grave charge, not merely of being careless and indifferent to the interests of the fair-trader, but as being the encouragers and abettors of smuggling, the destroyers of that honorable and upright feeling which should lead to a compliance with the laws, even at the sacrifice of self-interest. If the Government will not protect the fair dealers and duty-payers against the smugglers, nor make even an attempt to do so, the fair dealers become absolved, by every moral and political consideration, from paying duties also. The Government thereby "bring the paying of taxes to a mere trial of interests. Instgad of making the people feel the effects of a good and efficient government, and thereby encouraging them cheerfully to pay for its support, the Government are putting themselves into the degrading position of seizing upon the property of the subject with. the strong hand of power, which, if done by a private individual, would be called highway robbery. The truth of these observations are painfully evidenced by the discussions on the items of tobacco, and spirits. Both of these articles, it is well known, are smuggled to

a very large extent^ particularly tobacco— a fact admitted by"the Governor-in Chief himself/ Indeed lie went so far as to say that ttie Natives thought it no harm to smuggle .tobacco— that they afforded the Government no assistance in detecting offenders. Notwithstanding of this knowledge, and of his own faintly-formed opinion that the duties ought to be lowered upon this article, he allowed it to be made an open question whether the duties should not be raised to the inordinate rate of 2s. per lb., in order that a few scabby - sheep owners might obtain tobacco for sheepwash duty free. In reducing the duty to 3d. per lb,, Sir George, observed "that he relied ou the sheepowners making up the difference that would ensue ; if the duty stood at 2s, then the sheepowner might be allowed to have sheepwash duty free ;" and this in the face of Mr. Commissioner Bell's un answered statement that " there was no occupation which, in its whole scope, afforded so good an investment for capital as sheep-farming ; and that it was worth the sheepowner's while to protect his capital by keeping his flock clean : notwithstanding the heavy losses said to occur from scab {and other causes, the returns would show an increase of 15 times the amount originally invested. It was therefore unfair to mislead the public on this question with statements of heavy losses." Ultimately, the question was settled by retaining the old duty of Is, per lb.— the Heatings of the Hon. member, Mr. Cautley, and his scabby sheep-owning supporters being sufficient to wrest' the minds of such a Council to protect their interests by allowing them to ge,t . their supplies duty free. Nothing can .shew more, clearly the ignorance or culpable indifference to the general interests than the above facts.. If his Excellency relied upon a duty of 3d. per lb., if paid by all alike— making up the deficiency to the Revenue, why did he not insist upon retaining this reasonable rate ? being at once a gracious concession to the abotigines and a large measure of justice to the fair traders who faithfully paid the Government duties? Though the duty was fixed at the old rate of Is. per lb., yet the sheepowners were allowed to have their supplies duty free, although his Excellency had previously stated that they must pay 2s. or the loss would be thrown upon other interests ; and that, too, in the face of the uncontradicted statement of Mr. Commissioner Bell, that the sheepowner had no claim for such partial consideration. On the article of Spirits, again, the duty was raised to 6s. per gallon, without the smallest consideration as to the effect of this upon'-the contraband- traders, or as to whether' the Revenue would be a gainer or loser thereby. The chances are that the j Revenue diminishes by the great additional inducement thus given to smuggle ; but whether it does so or not, the honest rate-payers ought to have been considered, instead of being thus treated with the utmost recklessness and indifference. If we take another class of interests, we -shall find that the present Tariff manifests towards them an equal amount of ignorance, indifference, or culpable neglect. — Beginning with the agricultural, and pass-; ing over the very partial and even unfair concession made to the sheepowners just •adverted to, we find the corn -growers absolutely disregarded. Without being understood as advocating protecting - duties of any description — for we declare for out-and-out Free Trade—jet while our Solons were so busily occupied protecting one interest, we must be permitted to express surprise, and even charge them with great unfairness in overlooking other interests of equal if not superior claim to such fostering care. ' In woplgrowing, there is, of course, no competition between this and the neighbouring colonies, because Europe is the common market for the produce. Not so with grain crops, however ; we have two powerful competitors at our very doors; and it might be urged, by protectiomsts at least, that our farmers ought to be protected by a duty on foreign supplies, so as to" enable them to compete with their foreign rivals. At all events, they had every reason to expect that the 10 per cent duty, already imposed should not be suddenly witlidrawn, so that they might turn their capital into other channels if they thought proper to do so. Not a word, however, of this kind was stated on their behalf. The whole dutywas at once removed, and in lieu thereof a few agricultural implements are admitted duty free,— Sir George sarcastically and even insultingly observing, "that from his earlist youth he had been accustomed to hear the cry of agricultural distress, and had hoped not to find it repeated in this distant part of the world. If the remission of a duty, which * last year only amounted to £9, would relieve that distress, he thought the Council would have no objection to include this item among those to be admitted duty free, and the remission of the duty, though not of considerable amount, would appear gracious to the agricultural interest. 7*7 * Gracious concession, indeed ! He might have spared the insult, at least, if be needs must rob them. The shipping interest again— though apparently specially cared for- — has, in reality, been more injured £han advantaged by the new "tariff.' 'Tis true that shipbuilding materials, oil casks, &c, for, the whalers, are to be admitted duty free, but the vexatious annoyances and hindrances to the shipping visiting our ports are

greatly increased, and therefore additional injury also done to this branch of trade. This must be apparent to every one in the great additional delay in discharging cargoes which the new law will certainly occasion. There are few people aware — beyond the parties actually concerned — of the great loss of time caused to vessels by the Customs regulations alone — delays not measured by days but by weeks, and entailing a loss from £20 to £50— and in some instances to double that amount, on every large vessel with general cargo which visits our port. It is very true that we have no port charges, as His Excellency observed ; but these delays are worse than any port charges, and constitute a well-founded objection to vessels visiting our port. Now that we may expect a large number of foreign vessels, from our proximity to the gold fields of Australia, every possible facility of intercourse should, however, have been accorded to them. Although Dot precisely falling under the head of shipping interest, we cannot avoid remarking that, while rope is admitted duty free to favor that interest, it never occurred, apparently, to any of our legislators that we had rope-manufactories of our own, which would be injured to an extent corresponding with the amount of rope admitted duty free. The impolicy and unfairness of the change in the duties must be apparent to every one, the bleating legislators for scabby sheep alone eicepted. On the mercantile and commercial interests in general, the new duties will be t found not only very oppressive, but calculated to^interfere most seriously with the supplies "of various articles of commerce. The rates of duty are exorbitant ; because the Government, while incurring none of the risks, seize upon a larger share of the profit than the importer. Were the duties no higher than ten per cent, even- this amount is greater than the average profits on goods in the mother country, from the time they come from the hands of the manufacturer until they reach the consumer. On some descdiptions of goods our tariff exacts from 20 to 200 per cent — an amount altogether outrageous, and incapable of being defended upon any principle buS that of seizing, with a strong I hand, the greatest amount of duty that can be obtained. Many very necessary articles will, be altogether driven out of the market, because they will not bear the duty imposed, such as low-priced calicoes—blankets — wines — and indeed the low qualities of most articles ; as no difference is made between these and goods of the very best description. As an illustration, we may ! refer to low-priced wines for example, because it will be in the recollection of our readers that the tender lately accepted by the Commissariat Department for this article, for the officers and crew of the French frigate ' Alcmene/ was only 3s. per gallon, and as the duty is now Is. 6d., ifc must be pretty evident that no more wine of this quality can with safety be imported. We may add another illustration of the effect oOihese duties upon the trading interesMjMch will show very clearly the injuriouseffects to be apprehended. We refer j to the statement in another column shewing the result of a small consignment of candles sent from Sydney by the ' Emma/ the accuracy of the particulars of which we can j vouch for. ;It will begseen that, the first cost and all other chjggs being quite fair and reasonable, the result to the shipper who made the venture is a profit of 2s. 6d., j while the Government duty and relative '•• charge of Customs Agency amount, to over 50s. 2d. Is this fair or reasonable)? of is it likely that business can be carried on with such results ? It would be an easy matter to produce ! cases of extreme hardship, and even pecuniary loss, arising through the Government duties alone, but we purposely select an ordinary case in the usual run of business, j being a fair illustration of the effects of these duties. If they are unreasonable and unfair as regards the Europeans, they are still more so in reference to the Maories. Their tobacco has always been taxed from 100 to 120 per cent, on the Invoice cost j and what- • ever excuse may be made for doing so, oH the ground of tobacco being a luxury, and not a necessary article of consumption, there can be none for taxing their blankets, as now done from 10 'to 20 per cent., according to size and quality upon the Invoice cost. We say nothing at present of the duties affecting them on other articles j — but that on blankets is peculiarly objectionable. It falls with double severity upon the very small sizes purchased for their children— . upon these 20 per cent, is levied — a 'chargeat once, impolitic, cruel and oppressive: — and the more odious when we further take into account the fact that the natives are not on\j'-&mrepresented — -not only without any voice in the making of the laws — the raising and appropriating of the revenues— but are denied the rights of British subjects, in not being permitted to dispose of their lands or forests to whomsoever they please. The Government hold a monopoly of the lands— purchasing at 3d. per acre, and selling at all prices from 20s. and'.upwards. 1 Want of space compels us for the present to leave the subject, which we have as yet merely opened up, repeating only in conclusipn the opinion expressed on a former occasion, that the new tariff— though it will f<#** a time turn in more revenue — will ultimately fail, and will bring the Government

la the meantime into odium with the Euro'pean community, and it is much to be feared, into opposition with the natives.

Somo folks may have, perhaps, imagined, we wore coming it too strong when we stated that it would require an enormous Staff to work this beautiful bill. That we did not exaggerate its difficulties, may be gathered from the fact that the entire effective force of the Customs' department •were occupied throughout the whole of Saturday in inspecting two cases of drapery. If but two cases can thus engage the combined talcnt3 of our Searching Inquisitors during a whole day, we should like to know how many monilis it will take to get through the cargo of an English ship with some 3 or 4,000 packages of goods ? It must be obvious to every one that such a system cannot long be endured, and the more rigorously it is carried out, the sooner will it ensure its own destruction, upon this well known principle of the hotter the war, the sooner will come the blessings of peace. The confusion and delay caused by the examination of a single cargo of goods, will be quite sufficient to bring the odious system to a dead lock.

A Government Gazette was issue&yj on* Friday. It notifies that the Bye Laws ifeic^ the Hundred of Auckland have received the Lieutenant-Governor's assent, and will come into operation on the 26th Inst. A Meeting of the Justices for receiving applications for transfer of Publicans' Licenses, will be held at the Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, the 2nd proximo. j Mr. E. Armson has applied for a defined run at Tiri Tiri Matangi. Description may lie seen at the Land Commissioner's Office. Tenders are open at the Colonial Secretary's Office, till the 19 th Inst., from persons willing to contract for the erection of a new house for the Gaoler. It would have been of much public advantage had a new gaol been included in this invitation, for it can only be the ease instead of the severity of the discipline that restrains its inmates. The Colonial Bank of Issue continues to exhibit its inoperative absurdities. Republication is given of the erection of a light-house at Arthur's Head, the South point of entrance to Swan River, Western Australia. The Supreme Court will hold a-Criminal Session on Monday, the Ist, and meet for Civil business on Monday, the 8 th, Sept. A Return of a Crown Lands Sale, on the 28th of July, states the proceeds to have been £155.

Account sales of a consignment of Candles, ex "Emma," from Sydney : —