624
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 25

Result of Poll for Proposed Joint Loan, Stratford and Hawera Counties.

Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Wellington, 13th April, 1898.

THE following notice, received from the Chairmen of the Stratford and Hawera County Councils, is published in accordance with the provisions of “The Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1886.”

WM. HALL-JONES.

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HAWERA AND STRATFORD COUNTIES.

PROPOSED joint loan of £800, under the provisions of “The Government Loans to Local Bodies Act, 1886,” and its amendments, for forming, grading, and metalling portions of the Cheal and Oru Roads:—

Notice is hereby given that the poll taken on the 28th March, 1898, resulted as follows:—

As the required majority was not obtained within the Stratford County Special Area, we declare the proposal to be rejected.

JOSEPH MACKAY,
Chairman, Stratford County Council.

JOHN HESLOP,
Chairman, Hawera County Council.

6th April, 1898.

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Result of Poll for Proposed Loan, Masterton Road District, County of Wairarapa North.

Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Wellington, 12th April, 1898.

THE following notice, received from the Chairman of the Masterton Road Board, is published in accordance with the provisions of “The Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1886.”

WM. HALL-JONES.

———

MASTERTON ROAD BOARD.

RESULT of poll taken on the 6th of April, 1898, upon a proposal to raise a loan of £110 for forming and metalling the road-frontage to Subsections 12 and 21 of the Te Ore Ore Estate:—

Number of ratepayers on special roll, 7, representing 7 votes: Number of ratepayers who voted in favour of the proposal, 4, representing 4 votes; number of votes unrecorded, 3.

As a majority in number of the ratepayers on the special roll voted in favour of the proposal, and the number so voting are entitled to more than one-half in number of the votes which can be exercised by the whole number of ratepayers, I declare the proposal to be carried.

D. J. CAMERON,
Chairman.

Masterton, 7th April, 1898.

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Proposed New Chilean Tariff.

Department of Trade and Customs,
Wellington, 12th April, 1898.

THE following memorandum on the proposed new Chilean tariff has been received from Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Colonies, and is published for general information.

WM. HALL-JONES,
For Commissioner of Trade and Customs.

———

MEMORANDUM.

Tariff of Values.

MERCHANDISE is still valued in accordance with a tariff made in 1887, which gives the values in pesos of 38d.

The proposed new Customs regulation now awaiting the approval of the Senate orders the application of the tariff made in 1895, and the calculation of values in pesos of 18d.

Customs duties will be levied on the value of articles which shall have been established by the tariff. This duty is a percentage in conformity to the law of 6th July, 1878, modified by the law of August, 1889, which exempted from duties machinery and implements used in agriculture, mines, arts, and industry, by the laws of January, 1893, which increased the duties on sugar, and of 1896, which increased the duty on cigarettes.

The percentage levied on the value with which the merchandise is appraised—namely, the Customs duties—has been hitherto subjected to a surcharge which has fluctuated with the rate of exchange in London. This is due to the fact that the tariff of values was made in 1878, when the currency was the silver peso of 25 grammes and 900 of fineness, and the peso was worth 38d. In 1879 paper money was issued, and in October of that year the paper peso was worth 23d. In order to maintain the stability of the duties under this fluctuating fiduciary currency the President of the Republic fixed month by month the surcharge to be added to the Customs duties in order that the State should always levy 38d. for each peso.

At present Customs duties are levied with a fixed surcharge of 75 per cent. (law of 23rd February, 1897), although Chili possesses a gold currency representing 18d. per peso.

In the Bill now before Congress all surcharges have been abolished in order that the valuations may be made in pesos of 18d., and that upon this value the percentage may be calculated.

Payment of Customs Duties.

Formerly there were articles of merchandise which had to be cleared at once after being landed (forced despatch), others which were appraised and on which the duty was paid, but which the merchant carried to his own warehouse, leaving a promissory note to pay within twelve months, which he was obliged to pay in the Customhouse, deducting the amount of duties on articles which had been re-embarked for a foreign destination (these articles, such as sugar, rice, &c., were called “of private warehouses”). Other articles, which formed the most numerous class (common or general merchandise), were stored in Government warehouses up to a period of three years, which could be prolonged. The merchant had the right or facility of requesting the clearance of one case, or of several, or of the whole of them, as best suited his interests. After valuation of the merchandise and liquidation of the duties, he was obliged to effect payment in the Customhouse four days after notification of the liquidation.

At the beginning of the present year the clearance of private warehouses was abolished (to take effect from the 26th September, 1897), and from the 1st January, 1898, all merchandise must be cleared on arrival immediately after disembarkation (law of 23rd February, 1897). The merchant cannot withdraw the merchandise without previous payment of the corresponding duties in the Customhouse (law of 26th February, 1897).

In the Bill before the Senate the deposit of merchandise in Government warehouses is permitted for one year, after which period it must be cleared, and in private warehouses for six months.

The same Bill, which has been drafted to protect national industry, completely modifies the duties fixed in the law of 1878, and established a duty of 60 per cent., and other analogous ones.

Santiago, October, 1897.

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MEMORANDUM ON THE NEW TARIFF BILL.

The 1st Article of the new Tariff Bill is to the effect that all foreign products or merchandise shall pay an import duty of 25 per cent. ad valorem, with the exception of those which shall pay 60, 35, 15, and 5 per cent., of those which shall pay specific duties, and of those which shall be admitted free; and the subsequent articles detail the products or manufactures which shall be subject to the exceptional duties. The alterations, however, effected in the duties payable under this Bill, which merely relates to the percentage payable, are comparatively insignificant. The real alterations are in the valuations upon which the percentage is charged. These alterations are not yet definitely fixed, and consequently it is impossible at present to draw an accurate comparison between the old and the new tariffs. It is, however, generally understood that the “Tarifa de Avaluos,” made in 1895, and printed in 1896, will be adopted with a few modifications, and it is upon this that the following general observations are based.

The first and most important change is the fixing of the dollar at 18d. Under the present tariff the duties recoverable, taking as an example the textile class, on which 25 per cent. is charged, are as follows:—

$100 valuation, 25 per cent. .. .. $25
Customhouse rent, 1 per cent. .. .. 1
75 per cent. premium on $26 .. .. 19·50
———
45·50

Thus the net duties payable under the present tariff in the 25-per-cent. class are 45½ per cent. of the gross valuation. Under the new law, and when the tariff based upon the new valuations in dollars of 18d. comes into force, the duties payable will be,—