EXTRA PRIMAGE DUTY

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 March 1930, Page 7

EXTRA PRIMAGE DUTY

EARLY REMOVAL EXPECTED. [PER press association.] WELLINGTON, March 28. Certain foodstuffs and fertilisers will be relieved as from Monday next of the additional one per cent, primage duty imposed on all imports by the Government last season. This exemption is provided for in the Customs Amendment Act, 1929, but it is left to the Government to determine when the general removal of the extra duty shall take place. The primage duty last season was doubled from one per cent, to two per cent, to assist the Finance Minister in his efforts to balance the country’s ledger, and the latest customs returns indicate that the air has been substan- : tial. For the quarter which ended on December 31 last primage produced £233,503, representing an increase of £125,071 on the returns for the corresponding quarter of 1928. Sir Joseph Ward promised the House of Representatives that the additional duty would be removed from all imported commodities when the position of the country’s finances permitted that step being taken, and it is expected that an early announcement of the Government’s intentions in this respect will be made. Within a fortnight or so the Finance Minister will know definitely whether his forecast of a small surplus on the year’s working is accurate.