EXPORT OF MELTED GOLD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 20 June 1932, Page 9

EXPORT OF MELTED GOLD

PAYMENT OF DUTY

SOUTH ISLAND BENEFITS BY SBB2 ACT

The present boom in the gold milling industry ill the Dominion, and in the melting down of gold trinkets, mis given tile South Island an advantage over tlui North Island that was P*'°, J ably never contemplated when the Gold Duties Act was passed by Parliament in 1882 (says the Christchurch Times ). That Act, which was made operative in the North Island only, provided for a duty of 2s per ounce troy on all gold exports, the amount of the duty to be paid to the local authority of the county or borough in which the gold was produced. The original legislation lias novel been repealed, but in 1926 an additional duty of 6d per ounce troy was imposed on gold exports, and it was applied to both the North and tlie South Islands. This duty, however, was not payable on gold produced by alluvial mining or dredge mining. A curious feature is that gold not produced in New Zealand and exported from the North Island is subject to a duty of 2s an ounce troy, while go cl in this category can be exported duty free from the South Island. JEWELLERY AND COINS Legislation passed in 1920, and which is still in force, provides that gold coin shall not be melted down or used except as currency. During , the P res ?'' rush of gold-buying, prices up to 24s each are being paid . ni, Christchurch for sovereigns, hut it is illegal to melt down these coins, and most ot them find their way to Auckland, where they are sold at about 26s each to persons travelling to Australia. There aie no restrictions, however, against the melting down of United States and South African gold coins, or of damaged coins that have been used on medals. The great bulk of the gold m the form of jewellery that is now being retrieved by the gold buyers was manufactured in England and was imported into New Zealand. Large quantities of Ibis class of gold have been exported during the past few months to the Royal Ylint at Melbourne, and the Midfield Smelting Company in England, which are the principal buyers ot melted gold from New Zealand. HOW PRICE IS FIXED The Melbourne Mint fixes its price for melted gold every Tuesday, and in the period from 2nd May to 6th May it was paving £6 7s 3£d an ounce for standarcl or 22-carat gold, and £6 18s lOd an ounce for fine or 24-carat, gold, less a charge of 7d ail ounce up to 500 ounces for handling. . , „ . . No license is required for the expoit of gold except the usual license in accordance with the Exchange Credits Pool, but the exporter must make a declaration that the gold consists of melted down jewellery that was not made in New Zealand. Most of the gold mined in New Zealand is refined at the assay branches ol th o Bank of New "Zealand in Dunedin and Waihi, and it cannot be bought by anyone in the Dominion except by license. Consequently it is nearly all exported, although some maiiufactuiing jewellers have licenses and buy it in ingots from the Bank of New Zealand at Dunedin or Waihi. IDLE WEALTH RELEASED A Christchurch 'gold buyer said that as a. result of the melting down of old jewellery, a great deal of wealth that had formerly been lying idle was being turned to useful account. In the past few months ho had paid out over £3OOO for old jewellery which he had bought for melting down. At first he said, gold buying was largely a speculative business, and those engaged in it did not have any proper basis on which to hx their prices, hut recently prices had ad vanced, and there had been a considci--able increase in the number of persons wanting to turn old jewellery into cash .With regard to the duty of 2s an ounce on melted gold exported from the IN or in Island, he remarked that he was at a loss to account for this discrimination between the two islands, hut in any case it acted as "a stimulus to the business m the South Island. When the Gold Duties Act was passed in 1903, the Minister of Mines stated in Parliament that when the gold duty was abolished in New Zetland with the exception of the North Island the inhabitants and ratepayers of the Thames, Coromandel, Waihi and Paeroa districts decided that it was necessary to retain the gold duty as a means of helping the local bodies to construct tracks and roads over very difficult parts of tlic countiy. At that time Waihi was receiving an average of £14,000 a year from gold revenue the whole of which was spent within the borough. The new Act provided for ail apportionment of the revenue as between the borough and the Ohincmuri County.