LIQUOB TRAFFIC AIMS TO SCOOP £1,500,000.

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 13, 17 January 1922, Page 3

LIQUOB TRAFFIC AIMS TO SCOOP £1,500,000.

PROFIT ON NEW- DUTIES NOT PAID ON SPIRITS.

When the litjuor traffic got r the hint that spirit duties were to be increased, they made haste to get spirits out of bond at the' old rate'of 18s per gallon before the new duty of 36« was imposed. The N.Z. Times of sth January last carried a statement ! that'". :"very little revenue can be jexpected from spirits for some months to come, 'as it is estimated that no less than an eighteen months' or a'two-years' supply-was thus released from bond." • Taking this to be true, what is the position ?

In'the1 year 1920 the'total imports of brandy, gin,»ium, and whisky were 1,008,093 gallons.-Take.it ■»•<».million gallons for twelve m6nths;:''Then an eighteen months' supply is 1,500,000 gallons taken, out of bond at 18s per gallon duty when the Government estimated ..getting,.J6s, iper, gallon. Thie means 'the revenue "will be down £1,350,000.

On 12tK, December th« Wellington lAcoi\"sed'*victaß,l\er»' liad a- meeting at which it was stated that "the increased ctaxKe on spirit* .'tod' 'been' necessitated through the extr* tariff lately placed on all spirit*." Note, the extra tariff ha,d not been paid. 'On 16th December an increase of 2s 6d per bottle was announced. • The National Executive of the Licensed Trade of New Zealand protested against the increased tariff, which, it said; - "must ■ necessarily compel" ion increase in price to the consumer, the ''voluntary taxpayer."_ Note.^the tariff' had not been paid at tne increased-rate.