MISTAKE CORRECTED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 892, 8 February 1930, Page 8

MISTAKE CORRECTED

CUSTOMS DUTY GOES BACK NINE YEARS

"UNDUE HARDSHIP"

“Because the Customs Departmerit has made a mistake In allowing a certain article to come , into the country duty-free should , it, on discovering its mistake, now not only impose the duty, but alto make it retrospective from the time, some nine years ago, when the duty was imposed?” An Auckland manufacturer who drew the attention of a SUN representative to this question, considered that, whatever right th» department might possess. Its action in imposing duty back over those years was most unfair. It was rather an unpleasant, emprise for an Auckland manufacturer who specialises in the manufacture of leather goods to receiYe a cal from a customs officer who informed him that frames for leather suitcases which have always been regarded as duty-free had been found to be dutiable. This was not so disconcerting to the manufacturer, who holds firml” to the opinion that duty should be imposed on all imported articles that can be made in New Zealand, as the request for ivoices covering all hr. ports during the past ten years, jo ! that duty on those shipments could | be imposed. ! “This material has all been used in the manufacture of goods which were costed up and sold at prices ; which naturally' did not provide for i duty on the frames,” said the manufacturer. “Not being in the sane happy position as the Customs Department, I cannot make this charge retrospective to the people who purchased them. I must stand the loss.” HARD ON MANUFACTURER Although not affected by the change Mr. M. Palmer, of Palmer, Collins and Whitaker, leather goods manufacture j ers, referred to the department's i action as being very unfair. No | manufacturer, he said, objects to the imposition of duty, part icularly when it has for its object the encouraging of New Zealand industries. The present complaint was not in regard to the duty but in making it retrospective. The frames in question are strips of sheet iron, several pieces of which go to form the frame of he bag. Until this week they had always been pnt through and accepted by the Customs Department under the heading of A. and M.S., which, according to the department's definition means “articles and materials specified by the Minister, and on such conditions as he may prescribe, suited for, and to be used solely in the fabrication and repair of goods within New Zealand.” On going into the question, now that the point has been raised, it appears that by a decision made in 1921, it was decided to make these articles dutiable to the extent of 20 per cent, said Mr. Palmer. There are thousands of these decisions and appar ently this one escaped not only tiM attention of the customs agents, bn; also of the customs officers, who have continued to pass them under the fret! from duty heading. No doubt it will be said that, the onus is on the customs agents topicsent correct entries, said Mr. Palmer, but surely there should also be some onus on the part of the customs authorities to keep abreast of their 1 decisions. NAILS AS BUTTONS Mr. Palmer also expressed the opin- ! ion that in its eagerness to obtain j revenue the Customs Department wu ■ sometimes, unnecessarily strict. At i the present time the department was ; raising an objection to machine thread | coming in duty-free on the grounds that it could easily be used for tyiagup parcels. This thread, it ws s explained, was of a particular quality, “and,” said, Mr. Palmer, "no one m his right senses would import it for tying parcels.’ It was known that some people used a nail in place of a missinn button, but nobody would suggsrt that nails, for duty purposes, should be classed as buttons. As a further instance of the limits to which the customs people sometimes went, Mr. Palmer complained that the department’s officers once tried to collect duty on the loc ks that were fitted to suitcases on the grornd that such locks could be fitted on to doors. A customs agent to whom the qtestion was referred agreed that to mike the duty retrospective would be inflicting a big hardship upon the manufacturer concerned. There are thousands of these decisions, he said, tnd it is hard, even for an agent, to Seep track of them all as indicated by the fact that even the customs officers had not managed to keep track of the one in question.