FEARS OF NEW TARIFF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20605, 2 July 1930, Page 9

FEARS OF NEW TARIFF.

DUNEDIN IMPORTERS' VIEWS. GOODS ON SHIP AT AUCKLAND. CLEARANCE NOT ALLOWED. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] DUNEDIN, Tuesday. Dunedin importers are disturbed by the action of the collector of customs in refusing to accept payment of duty on goods for this port which arrived at Auckland per the Argyllshire from the west of England last evening. The refusal has been construed as an interference with the usage which lias in tho past placed importers in all centres of the Dominion on an equal footing. In view of the imminence of a revision of the customs tariff by the Government, local importers view with alarm the withdrawal of a privilege in respect to clearances that has been enjoyed for many years.

Consequently the Otago Importers and Shippers' Association has telegraphed the following protest to tho Prime Minister, Hon. G. W. Forbes: —" Customs have refused clearance of Dunedin goods arrived at Auckland, which has formerly been permitted. This refusal constitutes a serious unfairness to Dunedin merchants, who consequently will have to trade at a disadvantage compared with northern merchants who have cleared their goods before any increase of duty is announced. We urge that all consignees of any one ship reaching the Dominion be put upon the same footing." Similar telegrams have been sent to Sir Thomas Sidey and the Hon. W. B. Taverner.

The opinion was expressed to-day by a representative of a local importing firm that there was something suspicious about this sudden refusal to accept duty now instead of when the vessel arrived in port hoie. No doubt the collector of customs had been advised not to accept the money. In the past when tariff changes were due, importers had been allowed to clear their goods as soon as the vessel reached a New Zealand port. The Customs Department had the power to refuse such a concession, but this was the first occasion on which importers had not been accommodated.

Another local importer stressed the point that the law provided that the duty on any goods should be the duty ruling at the time when a vessel reached a New Zealand port so that legally they had no teason to l'ear that even if duty changes were made before the Argyllshire arrived at Dunedin they would be penalised to a heavier degree than the Auckland importers who were able to clear their goods to-day. Nevertheless it was significant that the collector of customs had suddenly refused to accept their cheques for duty until the vessel reached this port. . Mr. J. Mcintosh, collector of customs at Auckland, to whom the Dunedin report was referred last evening, questioned the practice referred to by Duned ; n importers. He considered that the collector at Dunedin had consulted the regulation governing such a procedure and had acted accordingly. He said that no general instructions had been received which would liavo the effect referred to in the report. The "privilege" spoken of by the Dunedin merchants was questioned by' a custom house agent and a city merchant. They stated that, to their knowledge, it was not the custom for southern merchants to pay duty, on goods for southern ports at the time an overseas boat arrived, at Auckland or Wellington. It was pointed out that a clearance could be effected through a custom-house agent at Auckland, but it was questionable whether thQ duty oft goods could he paid when the boat arrived at Auckland and then the clearance 'made at Dunedin or any other port. It was suggested that an arrangement along the lines of that desired might be mado through the shipping company, but a risk would have to be taken that the goods might be landed at a wrong port.