DUTIABLE LUGGAGE

Evening Star, Issue 19788, 11 February 1928, Page 21

DUTIABLE LUGGAGE

INSPECTION IN SYDNEY. New customs requiring a sworn declaration of their dutiable luggage from oversea passengers arriving in Sydney, came into force on January 1. The first vessel to come within the scope of the.se regulations was the steamer Ulimaroa, which arrived from Auckland on January 3, with a full complement of passengers. In the past, says the ‘Sydney Morning Herald,’ customs officials have demanded from oversea arrivals merely an oral declaration of the dutiable goods in their possession and, us by some obscure psychological process people find it easy orally to deny possession of such goods, the system was open to, and did, suffer from great abuse. Strangely enough, evasion of customs duty is generally regarded as a light matter and an achievement of which anyone might be proud. The new regulations will tighten the customs knot in two ways.

People will be more reluctant to flout the law, for the swearing of a false declaration assumes a more definitely criminal complexion than the mere oral negative. In the sceond place, possession of documentary evidence will enable customs officers to secure conviction more easily. The new regulations bring Australia into line with other -countries throughout the world and are expected to result in considerable increases in revenue coming through customs channels. The new system works in the following manner;—Declaration forms are sent in advance to oversea passenger vessels approaching Australian ports and are filled in by passengers while the vessel is still at sea. On arrival in port the declarations are signed before a customs officer, and a passenger is then escorted to the baggage shed by another officer who examines his luggage.