APRIL 14.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 625

$100 valuation, 25 per cent. .. .. $25
Customhouse rent, 1 per cent. .. .. 1
—
26

i.e., the net duties payable will be 26 per cent. of the gross valuation.

Coming to the articles upon which the heavy duty of 60 per cent. is to be charged, we find few of any importance which come from Great Britain. The principal are boots and shoes, carriages, carts, wheelbarrows, kitchen-ranges, tinned goods, furniture, hams and bacon, wax candles, and ready-made clothing. The valuation of most of these articles has been fixed in the 1896 tariff of values at figures which are, more or less, of the same sterling value as those upon which the duties are calculated to-day. Among the other articles placed in the 60-per-cent. class appears “grasa,” or fat, and, as there is a large trade in tallow between Australia and Chili, it may be advisable to call the attention of Australian exporters to the alteration in the tariff. At present grasa (fat) and tallow (sebo) pay the same duty, and the two articles are sufficiently alike to lead to disputes between merchants and the Customhouse officials. Australian exporters should therefore take precautions to be able to prove that their production is tallow, and not fat, and consequently subject only to the 25-per-cent. duty.

In the 35-per-cent. class there are also few changes which affect British manufactures. Starch, which now pays 25 per cent., will pay 35 per cent. in future. Textiles containing silk or linen remain in this class.

The bulk of the textile trade, however, falls under the 25-per-cent. class, and, as textiles constitute the principal exports from Great Britain to Chili, it will be of interest to compare, in the case of a few staples, the duties payable at present with those charged under the new tariff:—

There is then the class of goods upon which no “recargo” or premium is recovered, but of which half the duty is payable in currency, quarter is payable in currency plus a varying recargo, quarter is payable in gold at $6·31 to the £1. The varying “recargo” amounts practically to paying in gold, and for the sake of simplicity the calculation is made as follows:—

$100 valuation, 25 per cent. .. .. $25
1 per cent. Customhouse rent .. .. 1
—
26

Payable half in currency .. .. .. 13
Half gold, $13 at $5·31 to the £1, £2:1s. 2d., at 18d. .. .. .. 27·47
—
40·47

The following staples will thus be affected as follows:—

It will thus be seen that the general tendency has been to increase the import duties, and, in view of the expressed intention of the Government to protect and foster the native industries, it is more than probable that if any modifications be introduced in the “Tarifa de Avaluos” they will be in this direction.

Santiago, October, 1897.

Commissioner’s Decisions under Tariff Acts.

Department of Trade and Customs,
Wellington, 13th April, 1898.

IT is hereby notified for public information that the Hon. the Commissioner of Trade and Customs has decided to interpret the Customs and Excise Duties Acts in relation to the under-mentioned articles as follows:—

NOTE.—“Not otherwise enumerated” appears as n.o.e.; “other kinds” as o.k.; “articles and materials suited only for, and to be used solely in, the fabrication of goods in the colony” as a. & m.s. Articles marked thus * are revised decisions.

ERRATUM.—In Gazette No. 18, of 18th March, 1898, “Crystalllose” should read “1s. 6d. the oz.”

W. T. GLASGOW,
Secretary and Inspector.

Commissioner’s Order No. 591.]

Officiating Ministers for 1898.—Notice No. 11.

Registrar-General’s Office,
Wellington, 13th April, 1898.

PURSUANT to the provisions of an Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand passed in the forty-fourth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and intituled “The Marriage Act, 1880,” the following names of Officiating Ministers within the meaning of the said Act are published for general information:—

Presbyterian Church of New Zealand.
The Reverend Walter Smith.

Wesleyan Methodist Church.
The Reverend Thomas Eggleston Thomas, M.A.

E. J. VON DADELSZEN,
Registrar-General.

Officiating Ministers for 1898.—Notice No. 12.

Registrar-General’s Office,
Wellington, 13th April, 1898.

AT the request of the President of the Wesleyan Conference, the under-mentioned names have been withdrawn from the list of Officiating Ministers under “The Marriage Act, 1880,” for the year 1898.

Wesleyan Methodist Church.
The Reverend Alfred Wells Ashcroft.
The Reverend E. H. Buckingham.
The Reverend Richard Harker.
The Reverend William John Holdsworth.
The Reverend John Henry Hooper.
The Reverend Lewis Hudson.
The Reverend John Martyn.
The Reverend George Ernest Poole.
The Reverend Samuel Potts.
The Reverend Henry Price.
The Reverend William Henry Randerson.
The Reverend J. Rettallick Richards.
The Reverend William B. Scott.
The Reverend Edwin Charles Somerville.
The Reverend Richard Wilson.

E. J. VON DADELSZEN,
Registrar-General.

Bonus for the Production of Quicksilver.

Mines Office,
Wellington, 17th February, 1898.

NOTICE is hereby given that a bonus of fourpence (4d.) per pound will be paid on the production of the first one hundred thousand pounds weight (100,000lb.) of good marketable retorted quicksilver, free from all impurities, from any mine in New Zealand, on the following conditions, that is to say:—