Customs Revenue Down

Northern Advocate, 1 August 1938, Page 7

Customs Revenue Down

[Special To ,c Northern Advocate'! AUCKLAND. This Day.

For the second month in succession revenue I'ront Customs duty collected at Auckland has fallen below the total for the corresponding month last year. The collection last month was £266,220. compared with £272.366 for July of last year. The total for Customs, motor spirit tax and tyre duty combined. amounted to £330,480. against £335,031 for July. 1937. Totals for the first seven months of the yea;, however, are still substantially above those for the corresponding period last year, with the exception of tyre duty, which shows a decline.

Motor spirit tax at 6d a gallon last month, .yielded £61,084, compared with £60,694 in July, 1937, and tyro duty amounted to £3384 last month, and to £2901 in July'of last year. Excise on beer again showed an increase, going from £ 12,710 in July. 1937, to £13.697. Sales tax collections showed a substantial expansion. In July, 1937. the yield was £81,956, and last month it was £97,313.

With the exception of beer duty, all sections of Customs returns at the Port of Otago show a decrease compared with the total for the same month last year. Customs revenue Itself declined by about £14,000, sales tax by £2500. and petrol 'tax by about £IOOO. Tyro and gold duties also decreased b> slight amounts. Beer duty produced a total of £18.528, as against £17.020 for the same month last year. A further and heavier drop in the net Customs duties collection at Wellington in July is shown in a comparison with July of last year, the decrease. being £70,168. Sales tax, which in June showed an increase of £6155, dropped by £IO3O. All branches of duties, except beer and tyre duties, showed decreases on the figures for July, 1937. The Customs returns for Canterbury for the first four months of the 19381939 financial year are down £36,083. compared with the same period of last year. The figures for July this year are up £8270 on the same month last year.

' Ruatangata Record Records kept by Mr E. S. Tremaine show that in common with the remainder of the North, phenomenally heavy rain fell in the Ruatangata district during July. . The total fall for the month was 13.28 inches, which is the wettest since records have been kept in the district. The nearest approach to this figure was in July, 1916. when 12.45 inches were recorded. The maximum fall during the month was 3.09 inches, which was recorded on Sunday, July 24, and there were j 24 days with recordable rain. I During the first 13 days of the | month there was only one fine day, and the total fall for that period was -1.63 inches. For the last 13 days the fall was 8.75 inches. A severe frost occurred on the 15th, while thunder and lightning was noted on the 2nd., 26th, and 27th of the month. For the corresponding month of last year the total rainfall was 4.44 inches, although rain fell on 22 days.