DUTIES ON IMPORTS

Northern Advocate, 3 November 1931, Page 6

DUTIES ON IMPORTS

TARIFF ALTERATIONS OPERATION DATES WITHHELD. A FEW CONCESSIONS. (Per Press Association.—Copyright.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Further Customs resolutions were introduced and passed in the House of Representatives last evening. They are effective today. Molasses are now free. Unmanufactured tobacco is now 2/6 per pound. Raw fur skins are now 5 per cent. Gramophone records are now free if British, and 25 per cent, if foreign.

The increased duties are made permanent on all goods except apparel and silks, which terminate at the end of March, 1933. The aggregate is abolished on loc-ally-made tobacco and cigarettes. Excise duty on cigarettes is now 10/ per pound, or 25/ per thousand, whichever is higher. The Hon, Dowuic Stewart, Minister of Finance, explained that it had been decided to remove all reference to the dates of the operation of the duties except in certain cases, as it had been represented that disorganisation in the trade would result if the dates of the termination were fixed. It had been contended that the duty of 10 per cent, on silks and artificial silks was too high in relation to the duty of 5 per cent on apparel. There were strong grounds for believing the increased protection was adequate. The Government, however, desired that the local apparel manufacturers should be replaced as soon as possible in the same position as before the recent increases were made, and it had accordingly been decided that the new rates should terminate in 1933.

As a sufficient quantity of molasses was not made locally, and it was used mainly for stock food purposes, it was proposed to abolish the duty. The reduction in the duty on raw fur skins was designed to counteract the prejudicial effect on local industries as a result of appreciative currencies in countries from which they were imported. The alteration in the duties on gramophone records was the outcome of an investigation which had shown that records imported from Australia were entitled to be admitted as the manufacture of that country.

The aggregate of duties on tobacco and cigarettes had been found difficult to administer, and its abolition was proposed. It was estimated that the net result of the alterations in tobacco duties would be that the net protection, on pipe tobacco made wholly from imported tobacco leaf would be slightly over 5d per pound, increasing to over 2/9 per pound when wholly locally-grown leaf was used. With respect to cigarettes, the protection was about 1/8 per pound when only imported, leaf was used, increasing to 4/2 per pound when cigarettes were made wholly from local-ly-grown leaf. The Customs Amendment Bill, giving effect to alterations made from time to time, was introduced by Gov-ernor-General’s Message, and read a first time. *