DELAYED CLEARANCES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23281, 25 February 1939, Page 14

DELAYED CLEARANCES

GOODS FROM OVERSEAS CONCERN IN WELLINGTON EFFECT OF NEW REGULATIONS [BY TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION] WELLINGTON. Friday Delay in getting goods through the Customs Department is causing concern to Wellington business men. One importer said that during the past few weeks it had taken five times as long to obtain clearances as it had in the past. He blamed what he described as the cumbersome licensing regulations. "The delay is no reflection on the department's officers," he said. "In fairness to them it should be stated that they are being sweated by the Government. There is no 40-hour week for them, and some are working until 10 o'clock every night of the week." Officers, he added, would have a fulltime job clearing shipments in the usual way without having to endorse each licence against invoices. He had given the department papers for one shipment last Tuesday and had since been advised that the goods would not bo available until next Monday. In the meantime harbour dues for storage wero mounting up. Formerly the goods would have been cleared in one day. If he had goods on two vessels in port at the one time, the delay was intensified, because he had to wait until the first vessel was cleared before he could get his import licence back to submit it with the papers for the second vessel. Another importer said that recently the wharf sheds had been choked with goods. A contributing cause of delay had been the fact that during the past two weeks there had been eight vessels in port, an unusually large number.