CUSTOMS RETURNS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 577, 1 February 1929, Page 12

CUSTOMS RETURNS

WELLINGTON AMOUNTS HIGHER PETROL TAX FIGURES Press Association WELLINGTON. Thursday. There was an increase of £ 60,000 in the Customs revenue collected at the port of Wellington in January, compared with that for the corresponding month last year. The figures are as follow:—January, 1929, net Customs revenue, £248,807 5s sd; beer duty, £4,017 16s 7d. January, 1928, net Customs revenue, £188,906 9s 4d; beer duty, £4,740 8s Bd. The motor spirit tax yielded £40,961 6s Sd and the tyre tax £7,561 6s lOd. BEER DUTY INCREASE FIGURES FOR CHRISTCHURCH Press Association CHRISTCHURCH, Thursday. An increase of £37 in the Customs revenue for January over that for December, 1928, and of £IB,OOO over that for January, 1928, are shown by the month’s returns. The Customs duties collected were £106,419. The amount of beer duty collected was £7,584, an increase over January, 1928, of £1,308, and the petrol tax was £14,824. INCREASE AT DUNEDIN MONTH’S CUSTOMS RETURNS Press Association DUNEDIN, Thursday. The Customs receipts at Dunedin for the month ended to-day amounted to £75,241, as against £66,598 for the corresponding month of last year. The beer duty totalled £23,996, as against £22,069 lor last January The amount collected in tyre tax was £1,656, compared with £1,029, and the motor spirit tax totalled £5,578. MOANATAIARI MINING CO. WEAK RESPONSE FOR SHARES The financial position of the Caledonia Jvuranui Moanataiari Gold Mining Company was discussed at a meeting of shareholders held yesterday afternoon. Mr. P. F. Watson presided. Shareholders were not sufficient to form a quorum. Mi*. W. M. Gimson said they had secured applications for approximately 18,000 out of the 32,000 shares required before the directors could proceed to al--lot the new issue. Had there been a quorum present the only thing to do would have been to pass a resolution to go into voluntary liquidation and avoid judgment through the Court. The chairman said the board had tried every avenue to save the situation. They had even approached the new Government, but the answer was that the Minister could not see his way to alter the decision of his predecessor. 'Mr. Gimson said the point was they had to get the 14,000 shares. If the remaining 250 shareholders would take only one-quarter of their present holdings the mine could be saved.

Asked what he honestly thought of the prospects of the mine, Mr. Gimson said there were two sides to it. First, there was the opportunity of finding “bonanza” patches, but the part that appealed to him more was that the property was very suitable for working as a low-grade proposition. They would never have the financial resources for that, but, with a little expenditure, they might prove its possibility and open the way for negotiations with some large mining concern that handled low-grade ore. WHERE WOOL WENT SALES FIGURES FROM LONDON (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 10.32 a.m. LONDON, Thurs. At the wool sales, the total number of bales catalogued was 102,766. It is estimated that about 49,000 were sold to Continental buyers, 2,000 to the United States, 34,000 bought for the Home trade, and 17,000 held over. NO CHANGE IN SYDNEY (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) SYDNEY, Thursday. At the Sydney wool sales to-day 12,142 bales were sold. The market showed no change. All faulty and dusty wools were irregular and difficult to qLiit. Greasy Merino sold to 26id.