COMMERCIAL

Evening Star, Issue 24083, 2 January 1942, Page 2

COMMERCIAL

CUSTOMS RETURNS YEAR'S FIGURES FOR OTAGO Customs figures for Otago for 1941 disclose decreases ill both the Customs revenue and the beer duty accounts. Customs revenue was down by £69,036, and beer duty by the comparatively small amount of £5,536. On the other hand, the war expenses account showed a big increase from £284,440 to £498,135. Sales tax was also higher. The figures were £371,680, compared with_£3sß,817. A similar position is revealed m the monthly and quarterly returns, except that in Customs revenue for December there w'as an increase of £5,671, and in hetw duty for the quarter‘there was a small increase of £609 over the figures for the corresponding period of last year. The details are as follows; —

AUCKLAND Record revenue from beer duly is disclosed in. the returns from Auckland for the year, but Customs revenue declined by more than £182,000. The revenue from Customs lad year totalled £2,916,810, compared with £3,098,991 in 1940. In December, however, the collection was £332,686, as against £243,501 in the corresponding month of 1940. ft was the highest collection in any month since September, 1939, the figure for which was £365,736. The excise duty on beer last year yielded £352,248, compared with £333,856 in 1940. The December figure, however, shows a decrease of about £4,600. The collodions under the heading of the war expenses account increased considerably last year, largely because of the doubling of the sales tax in the second half of 1940. The account received £1,355,981 last year and £667,182 in 1940. There was a small increase in tho December figure. WELLINGTON

CHRISTCHURCH A considerable advance on the Customs duty collected during the same period last year is shown in the returns for the current financial year to date. For the nine mouths to the end of December, 1941, the total collections amounted to £1,727,869, compared' with £1,551,729 for the nine months of the previous year. The figures for the month of December, 1941, when compared with those for December, 1940, show general increases.

1941. 1940. £ £ —December. — Customs 50,569 46,889 Beer duty ' 42,040 48,027 Sales tax 33,597 31,228 War expenses account 44,999 43,859 —Past Quarter. — Customs 132,027 136,124 Beer duly 122.770 122,161 Sales tax 100,256 92,106 War expenses account 132,675 127,213 —Past Twelve Months,— Customs 581,649 650,685 Beer duty 457,801 463,337 Sales tax 371,680 358,817 War expenses account 498,135 284,440

—December. — 1941. 1940. £ £ Ket Customs 250,657 2491495 War tax ... 128,620 131,156 Sales tax ... 98,002 98,640 Beer 'Excise 15,109 12,842 -F igures for Year. — Net Customs 2,936,699 3,238,927 War tax 1,509,169 864,289 Sales tax ... 1,140,530 1.209,556 Beer Excise 108,005 108,184

■December.— 1941. 1940. £ £ Customs 109,399 84,435 Boor Excise 24,608 24.585 Sales, tax ... . 44,679 42,104 War Expenses Ac't. 52,346 49,319 Totals 231,032 200,443 —Figures for Nino Months. — 1941-42. 1940-41, £ £ Customs ... . 7241535 740,721 Beer Excise 157,101 152,493 Sales tax 394,446 389,649 War Expenses Ac’t. 451,787 268.866 Total 1,727,869 1,551,729