Customs Duties.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8140, 2 June 1906, Page 3

Customs Duties.

(Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, ,june 1. Thfi Chajnber of Comtuerce Tiirift' IU-visioa Committee has presetted a report generally speaking in favour of the abolition of the duty on the necessaries ofjlife, including the entire remission of the duty on sugar. The Committee sees no reason why the tobacco duty should be reduced. JJegarding hardware the report states that the anomalies wich exist are the result of the Customs Commissioner's interpretations more than the tariff itself. liecommendations in the direc ion of simplicity and uniformity are made, and a! so in regard to soft goods. In respect of drugs, recommendations are made favourable to the encouragement of local manufactures. The Chamber has adopted the report, which concludes as follows :—" The several sections of your committee do not pretend they have called attention to all the existing anomalies in the present tariff, but have gone sufficiently far in that direction to show the need there is for a general reconsideration of the tariff and the Commissioner's decisions, and recommend that the Government be asked to appoint an advisory board of experts to represent the different branches of trade to assist the Commissioner in arriving at his decisions. This would go a long way towards removing the anomalies that now exist, and which, under the present unaided decisions of the Commissioner, are likely to arise in the future.