WHEN DUTY CALLS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 187, 1 December 1941, Page 6

WHEN DUTY CALLS

(Continued from last issue) I think it is disgraceful the way some people manage to get preferential treatment from the New Zealand authorities;. If I want to send Bill a bottle of whisky I must pay 36/- per proof gallon more for it in duty, while the folks who run "museums, universities, hospitals or similar institutions" can, get alcohol free. What highbrows these authorities are! I can send a great organ and be charged not a penny in duty, but if I send a harmonium it would cost me 20 per cent of its value in tax. An ordinary clock has the same price laid on its humble head, while one "specially suited for use in timing flights of pigeons" goes free. Other things which I could send Bill at Christmas Avithcut being charged extra are mustard, salt, sugar, cream of tartar, disinfectant, fruit rinds, pitch, dentists' instru* mcnts, bandages, medals,, religious tracts cod liver oil, ball bearings, bolts, cylinders of compressed gases, fire engines, cash. registers, logs (hewn or unworked, but not sawn) and hair sieves. But I don't think Bill would care a hoot for any of them. Cleanliness is not encouraged in New Zealand. Soap in every form is charged 25 per cent in duty. And after telling us that the tax on cigarettes is 25/6 per 1000, I think it is irritating to note that ''tobacco for sheep-wash, or for insectide after being rendered unfit for human consumption to the satisfaction of the Minister," gets in for nothing. In the matter of pipes, I'm still as wise as I was. I know what to expect if I send a rain-water pipe, a wrought iron screwed pipe, a lead and composition pipe which has "a slit through the whole length suited for the manufacture of fenders, bedsteads, gates, and similar articles." 1 but there is not a single word concerning the only pipes which matter. I' ask you!