THE VICTORIAN DUTY ON OATS AND BARLEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1973, 12 September 1889, Page 19

THE VICTORIAN DUTY ON OATS AND BARLEY.

The Argus says that the importers and dealers in oats and barley have no objection to the proposal of the Government to increase the duty on those cereals from 2s to 3s per cental, but they strongly protest against the action of thn Government in deferring the time for levying the additional impost till the Ist December. Tne reason why the Ministry •decided to postpone the collection of the 3s duty till the Ist December was, as Mr Gillies stated, that they should not play into the hands of the speculators, as would be the case if the additional duty were levied at once. It had been stated that the importers and speculators would, if tLe increased ■duty were imposed without delay, reap a profit of £25,000, but they declare tint statement to be most absurd, and entirely erroneous. A careful computation made yesterday showed that there was not much more than 100.000 bags of oats in stock in Melbourne at the present time, which is equal to about at' o-monl hs' supply. That otock is well distributed, not being held by a few, as would have been the case if specula i m had been indulged in, and it was the amount imnlly kept in hand to meet the demands of customers. Ifc will therefore be feen, they urge, that at (he most all they could make by the duty beins levied .it once would be £6000 or £7000 which would bo shared among about 20 of them, so that non« of them would derive a very large profit. What they ara anxious to point out is that the duty should be put on forthwith, or not at all. At the present time the stocks in New Zealand consist of about 400,000 bags of oats, and if the imposing of the additional duly is deferred till Ist December there is little doubt that a very large proportion of that sto^k as well as a fair percentage of the surplus stucks of Ca'i fornia, will be shipped to Melbourne, and arrive hera before the end of November, so as to avoid the additional Is duty. The result will therefore be. if tho levying of the duty is postponed, that the local market will be flooded, and the farmers, instead of being benefited by the increased duty, will have to suffer, as they will in December and January next have to face an overstocked market, and consequently low prices. In short, it is declared that the farmers will, if the duty is deferred .as proposed by the Government, either have to hold their pnin for months till the surplus is worked off, or sell the oats at a loss.