IS IT JUST?

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1386, 12 March 1912, Page 6

IS IT JUST?

DUTY ON GOLD SWEEPINGS. | IN JEWELLERS' SHOPS. Under the law the Customs Department lms tho right to collect certain duties on every ounce of gold, apart from sovereigns, exported from (ho Dominion, and in the last year or two tho Department claims to have discovered a new set of gold exporters—the working jewellers. A manufacturing jeweller throws awoy none of tho waste in his workrooms. The geld filings aro ail caught and reinelled in tho shop, but all the dust and rubbish that is swept from tho iloors is saved lest it should contain gold. This rubbish is thrown into packing cases and shipped to England to havo the gold extracted from it there, for no refiners who could undertake such work aro in business in New Zealand. Now the Customs officers in tho North Island—for tho duty seems never to have been payable in tho South Island—claim that a manufacturing jeweller who sends home his "sweep" to havo the gold saved from it is an exporter of gold. The law of tho country has not been amended, but the Customs officers hero (and in Auckland first) raised tho question as to whether jewellers were liablo to pay gold duty or not, aiid tho jewellers havo had to pay. Host of tho gold duty collected is returned to mining communities, and it is generally admitted that it was in their interests that it was iirst imposed. Nearly all the gold from the mines goes Home in tho form of bullion, but the big batteries using the cyanide process also send out some oi' their "slimes to be re-treated in England. All this gold, .which has come .direct from tho ground, is liablo to duty, but the jewellers object that their gold, mixed with dust, cigarette ends, scraps of paper, and such rubbish, is not quite on tho same footing as that coming from the mines. They have approached the. Government, but the reply has been that it is impossiblo to permit this gold to escape, tho duty. "A most iniquitous tax," said Sir. L. R. Partridge, one of tho principal manufacturing jewellers in New Zealand, to ft Dominion , reporter yesterday. "Wo aro not exporters of gold, but wo havo to solid our sweep homo to get something back that is our own. Wo reckon to lose 10s. an ounce on all the gold wo work, and we recover some of that through this system of sending Homo our sweepings.. Naturally, we recovec only a percentage of the total loss. My 'sweep' eaves for me about .£3OO a year, which, at tho rate of 2s. 3d. per ounce, means a tax of about ,£B. The amount is not large, but it is of tho injustice of the thins that I complain. Tho whole collections under this head last year amounted to only £42, but many jewellers, when they beard of the tax, withheld their sweep. Somo of them have four or five years' sweepings in hand, waiting till this trouble is finally settled. "I understand that this tax was imposed primarily for the support of_ mining communities, but we aro not interested in alluvial or retorted gold. We do not use it to any extent; wo prefer to use sovereigns, which are of standard value, and free from troublesome ingredients, such as lead. The gold that we use has therefore paid its duty. We work up a little old jewellery now and then, but the gold in that has also paid its duty either when imported as jewellery or who.i exported as bullion for minting some timo previously. "Oae of tho. objections raised by tho Minister to our request that an exception hi made in favour of jewellers' sweepings was that an exemption might lead to abuses. It was suggested that tailings might bo mixed up with our rubbish, but what manufacturer is going to take tho trouble to mix tailings with his rubbish? Tho objection is absurd. At all events, wo are goin? to take some further steps, with tho object of riddi'Jg ourselves of this inequitable fax."