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spirits, tobaccos, &c. All the importers state that orders equal to last year's have gone forward to the United Kingdom, America, India, and Japan, but the tesults will depend upon future shipping available. When it is considered that goods can only be obtained from the United Kingdom in a limited quantity under license, and that the United States prohibited the exportation of all articles except under license, it is possible that our imports will fall; but whether this will apply to the articles chiefly depended upon to produce revenue remains to be seen. So long as space is available there is little doubt that drapery and soft-goods, boots and shoes, earthenware, hats and caps, millinery, hardware sundries, spirits, and tobacco will continue to come forward. The revenue for 1918-19 is estimated at £3,500,000. The comparative figures showing the values of imports and exports for the financial years 1915-10, 1916-17, and 1917-18 are as under. It should be carefully borne in mind that the import figures are the invoice value plus 10 per cent., which is the basis of value for ad valorem and primage duty, and that the true landed cost is probably 20 per cent, in advance of the figures shown for imports, owing to the tremendous freights at present ruling. Imports. Exports^ £ £ 1915-16 .. .. .. 22,917,437 33,781,711 1916-17 .. .. .. 26,162,706 30,538,466 1917-18 .. .. .. 20,983,612 31,298,270 Beer Duty. The estimated beer duty for 1917-18 was £225,000, and the amount realized was £237,075, being £12,075 over the estimate. This is due to the fact that the estimate was calculated upon an average rate of sd. the gallon, whereas it was eventually decided to increase the minimum duty on excise beer to sfd. the gallon, and the maximum duty to 6d. the gallon. As a matter of fact, the quantity of beer brewed during 1917-18 was 189,000 gallons less than during 1916-17, the average rate per gallon being 5-878 d. As six-o'clock closing was in force only lor four months of fche financial year, and there has been a falling-off in the amount of beer brewed since December, 1917, the year 1918-19 cannot be expected to realize more than £225,000, and the excise duty is estimated at that amount. * Recapitulation ok Estimated Revenue to be collected by the Customs Department for 1918-19. £ Customs revenue .. .. .. .. :5,r>00,000 Beer duty . . . . . . . . . . 225,000 Bonded-warehouse duty . . . . | Timber-export duty and other receipts . . j £3,732,000 The statistical returns for 1917 show that the value of goods of German origin imported into New Zealand for the year was £2,316 ; and it should be explained that this sum is made up of presents and supplies sent to prisoners of war, of German scientific apparatus for universities which was in stock in the United Kingdom prior to the war and which could not be obtained elsewhere, of dyes (being parts of cargo of interned steamers), and of electric and other machinery from British possessions which were urgently required for the upkeep of established industries and which could not be substituted by British-made machines owing to the difficulties of exportation from the United Kingdom. LAND AND INCOME TAX DEPARTMENT. The net receipts in this Department for the past year amounted to £7,005,269, made up of land-tax £1,385,708, income-tax £5,619,561, and compared with the collection for the previous year snow an increase of £2,030,025.

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