CUSTOMS DUTIES ON MACHINERY, ETC.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2723, 9 April 1866, Page 6

CUSTOMS DUTIES ON MACHINERY, ETC.

This question was considered at a recent meeting of the Otago Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Oliver said it would be in the memory of most of the members of the Chamber, that at the end of the last session of the Assembly, a resolution was passed, declaring that certain classes of goods necessary for the construction of railways, mining machinery, agricultural implements, &c, should be admitted duty free. That resolution had been entirely ignored by the Customs authorities. They had, in fact, collected the duties more stringently than ever. He knew that, with respect to the Maori Reserve, the Ministry had declared that they could not act until the resolution of the Assembly had been embodied in an Act ; but the resolution to which he was calling attention was not in opposition to any existing law, and might be taken as only declaratory of the intention of the clause of the Customs Act under which the particular duties were now being collected. The clause referred to declared that ironmongery,' hardware, and holloware should be charged 4s. per cwt. The resolution of the Assembly did not clash with that, but simply said that articles which nobody could contend were ironmongery, hardware, or holloware, should be admitted free. Jtf c sho v!d be glad to have an opinion from Mr. Peterson as to the course the Government .would take in the matter. Mr. J. Cargill said that when the Tariff was passed, it was intended that machinery should be free. When the Gas Company imported pipes, the Customs declared them to be " holoware"— -(laughter)— and they were impounded, until a special order was obtained from the Government, at Auckland, that the pipes were to pass free. Many articles had been declared dutiable at one time and at others free ; and he saw no means of remedying the evil, but by specifying in the New Customs Duties Bill every article that was free. The Chairman : It would be better to specify every dutiable article. Mr. Caroill said that as long as the. Government had plenty of money, thing 3 went on well ; but when there was a pinch, down came a duty upon articles that had not before been charged. It was now the time to speak out clearly on the subject. Machinery ought to be admitted free. Quartz reefing and other operations would require the introduction of much machinery, and there ought not to be any duty upon it. The Chairman explained that the Secretary wrote to the Government a month ago, on the very subject brought forward by Mr. Oliver. The Secretary read extracts from the letter. The following were included in a schedule : — Steam engines, -and parts thereof ; machinery of all sort", and parts thereof ; agricultural machines and implements ; all iron castings ; water and gas pipes, iron standards for fencing, and lead piping. With respect to these, it was written — " to the whole of the above the radical objection is taken, that none of the articles enumerated are definable as ' cutlery, hardware, plated-ware, holloware. or ironmongery,' of any sort." The answer received entirely gave the go-by to this argument. It was — " Office of Commissioner of Customs, "Wellington, 3rd March. 1866. " Sir,— Referring to your letter of the 22nd January last, I am directed fcby the Honorable the Commissioner to state that the questions raised by the Chamber of Commerce have received careful consideration ; and that as the articles referred to come under one or other of the general terms, "hardware" or " ironmongery," they are by the existiug law liable to duty. The Government is, however, of opinion that it would be for the public benefit if some of these articles were admitted free of duty, and proposes accordingly to recommend to the Legislature next session, when the Tariff ia under consideration, that some of the article in question should be admitted free. — I have, &c, "Wm. France, for Inspector. " J. S. Webb, Esq., Secretary, &c." Mr. Reynolds was surprised at the result ; for Mr. Stafford took part m passing the resolution which was directly intended to obviate the difficulty. There was another resolution doing away with the office of Inspector of Customs ; but he saw that that officer was still being continued. The Inspector was fully aware that the Assembly complained of his office as unnecessary ; and it might be concluded that that gentleman's seeing the necessity of getting in more money, so as to show that he was useful, was the cause of the condition now complained of. Not only should the Chamber take up the subject ; but the newly elected members of the Assembly ought to undertake to protest most strongly against the levying of a duty on machinery, after the resolution passed last session. The resolution passed by the Assembly was then read. It was moved by Mr. Creighton in Committee of Ways and Means, and was as follows : — "That in the opinion of the committee the rolling stock and all iron plant used in the construction of railways in New Zealand ought to be admitted free of duty ; also, that all screw piles for public wharves, bridges, beacons, and harbour lights and lighthouses ; wire fencing and iron standards, telegraph posts, as weR as all machinery required in the erection of patent slips and docks, or for agricultural, mining, manufacturing, printing or other purposes calculated to develop colonial industries, ought to be admitted duty free." On the motion of Mr. Oliver, seconded by Mr. Bathgate, it was resolved : — " That this Chamber desires to draw the attention of the Government to the resolution of the House of Representatives passed 28th October last, excepting mining, railway, and agricultural machinery from the duty chargeable on hardware and ironmongery ; and to point out the inconsistency between the letter of the Inspector of Customs of 3rd March, in answer to that of the Secretary of the Chamber of date 22nd January last, and that resolution." Mr. Paterson said that any action taken by the Government had been simply temporary. In view of a thorough re-organisation of the whole of the duties, it was not considered desirable to make any material alteration in any item. As he had already explained elsewhere, the Government were engaged in collecting the fullest possible information ; and the Chamber and the public would have ample opportunity for discussing the proposed changes before the Government made up its mind on the matter. He might add that the desire of the Government was to cause the Customs Duties to fall as equably as possible on the different sections of the community ; but he could not be expected to make any more definite statement on the subject. The Chairman asked what plan the Government intended to adopt in collecting duties not included in the existing Act. It would be satisfactory to know that the Government would keep within the law until the Assembly met. I Mr. Paterson was unaware that the Government i had done anything illegal. If they had, they were amenable to the law, like other persons. Mr. Reynolds urged that it would be a breach of faith with the miners, if quartz machinery was not admitted free. Mr. Webb said that in collecting information for the Government, he had noticed that some quartz machinery had recently been allowed to pass free. The subject then dropped.