THE FEDERAL DUTY.

Otago Witness, Volume 23, Issue 2684, 23 August 1905, Page 23

THE FEDERAL DUTY.

| LONDON, August 15. The Ottawa correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, referring to Sir W. J. Lyne's action in raising the duty on harvesters imported into the Commonwealth, says that it is staied in Ottawa that the Customs Department possesses * confidential information which has not been divulged even to. members of the Dominion Parliament of Canada. The department main-i tains special officers in the United States to ascertain American domestic values, and it is^ considered that the Commonwealth should act similarly. What i« e-enei'plly known as the '"Dumping Act " is in operation in Canada, and it* operation is being 'watched with keen int west. By thw act a special Customs duty, not to exceed 50 per c^nt. of the original duty, is imposed upon dutiable goods sold fcr Canadian consumption at less than the market price iv " tho country of their production. The object of the acb is to pre%ent "dumping I of goods on the Canadian market to the detriment of the local manu•faoturer. It ooerates automatically. If, for instance. United Sfca.tes steel rails are taken into Caiiada and sold at a price lower than the mavket price fcv the rails in America, the regular Customs tariff on steel rails is increased 50 per cent. Of course, the law involves the, ascertainment of the market price of different commodities in the country of production — sometimes a difficult, task; but, on the whole, it is reported that .the act has tended to diminish the dumping of surplus stocks on tbe Cana'clian market. The law was confessedly aimed at American manufacturer's, who in some lines are very hea\y dumper*. It is the commonest occurrence for a big firm to find tli2fc ifc has overesthna»ted tbe demand for a particular article, turning out a larger product than can be disposed of in the home market. The practice is then to select a convenient foreign mavke.t, and to cut ihe price sufficiently to get under the figures prevailing in the foreign market selected. _ Canada, being so conveniently situated in relation to America, has beer selected as .the dumping-ground by th< Yankee producer more often than any oth-ti country.