CUSTOMS DUTY.
CLERK'S DISASTROUS ERROR. AUCKLAND, October 13. On : Wednesday last,- Robert' Selbourn Rose, a clerk employed by Messrs J. R. Mac Ewan and Co., had declared to the Customs that t ne invoice value of milk cans from Sydney was £lB 18s 4d, and that he,.had no other invoice of the goods, whereas there was an invoice in his firm's possession at the time giving, the value at £25 19s. He was charged at the Police Court this morning, before Mr EC. Outten. with making a false declaration. Mr Mahony, who represented accused, entered a plea of guilty. . He stated that the declaration related to milk cans manufactured in Sweden and imEorted from Sydney, where the Swedish firm ad a branch The Sydney branch made a charge of 10 per cent, over and afbove rate, freight, and insurance, etc., and 1 the only manner in which the cost could be arrived at by the clerk was by a guess at the charges, and adding 10 per cent, to the Stockholm cost. Recently a change had been made in the Sydney management, and as a result two invoices had been forwarded, the second one showing the rate, freight, and insurance, etc., between Sydney and Stockholm. Rose made the declaration on the first invoice, as he had been in the custom of doing. There was no knowledge of this on the part of the firm's principals, and no intention of fraud. Mr Selwyn Mays . who represented the department, pointed 1 out that-it was. not necessary in making the declaration for the declarant to know it to be false to enable him to be punished. He did not for a moment suggest that the false declaration had been wilfully made. The administration of the Customs relied largely on rereturns supplied by importers and their agents, and in order to protect the revenue, it was of extreme importance that these people made truthful and careful returns. The only way to ensure that. was to make the declarant responsible for his or for carelessness.
The Magistrate impoeed the fine of £IOO, which was reduced 1 to one of £25 and costs.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19111018.2.234
Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 3005, 18 October 1911, Page 65
Word Count
357CUSTOMS DUTY. Otago Witness, Issue 3005, 18 October 1911, Page 65
Using This Item
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Otago Witness. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in