INTRODUCTORY NOTES. The following notes contain such regulations as are of general application to the Customs Tariffs of the respective Colonies: they are given here in order to avoid repetition in the following pages. INDIA CEYLON [For notes relating to regulations affecting dutiable articles sent to the Colonies by Parcel Post, see p. 431.] MAURITIUS Government Stores are free of duty. (a) The importation is prohibited of parts of articles, viz., any distinct or separate part of any article not accompanied by the other part, or all the other parts, of such articles, so as to be complete or perfect, in all cases where such articles are subject to duty at an ad valorem rate. (b) The rate of exchange at which the value of goods coming from countries with a gold standard of currency shall be declared for the purpose of levying ad valorem duties thereon is as follows for the year 1902 : For countries having a sterling currency, the £ sterling to be equivalent to 15 rupees. For countries having other currencies, the equivalent of the £ sterling to be as follows: SEYCHELLES BRITISH NEW GUINEA AUSTRALIAN COMMON WEALTH. 5 dollars. The Governor in Executive Council may, upon the report of the Collector of Customs, remit or refund the whole or any portion of the duties, in the case of goods imported under special circumstances, or for an object or enterprise which may be deemed beneficial to the Colony. Animals and goods (except oil, spirits, and tobacco), the produce of any of the dependencies of Mauritius, except the Seychelles, are admitted free of duty. The importation is prohibited of articles of foreign manufacture, or any packages of such articles, bearing any names, brands, or marks, being or purporting to be the names, brands, or marks, of manufacturers resident in the United Kingdom. (c) The Administrator in Executive Council may, upon the report of the Collector of Customs, remit or refund the whole or any portion of the duty, in the case of any goods imported under special circumstances, or for any object or enterprise which may be deemed beneficial to the Seychelles Islands. (d) If any articles are imported in the form of a bag, package, (e) The following goods are prohibited from importation- WEALTH-cont. INTRODUCTORY NOTES--continued. AUSTRALIAN COMMON-, (f) Goods exported to Australia from any country but passing through another country, shall be valued for duty as if they were imported directly from such first-mentioned country. (9) Small samples of the bulk of any goods subject to the control of the Customs may, subject to the prescribed conditions, be delivered free of duty. Goods, the produce of Australia, or samples of duty-paid goods sent out of Australia, may, subject to any prescribed conditions, be re-imported or brought back to Australia without payment of duty. No goods, the property of the Commonwealth, shall be liable to any duty of Customs, and such minor articles as may be specified in departmental byelaws for use in the manufacture of goods within the Commonwealth, may be admitted free of duty. Western Australia (h) By the Western Australia Act, No. 3, of 1901, assented to on October 9th, 1901, it is provided that— NEW ZEALAND CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, * "The duties of Customs in force in Western Australia at the "date immediately preceding the imposition of uniform duties "of Customs under the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, so far as they relate to goods passing into "Western Australia, and not originally imported from "beyond the limits of the Commonwealth, are re-imposed, " and shall continue in force, subject to the provisions of "section 95 of the said Act." By section 95 of the Constitution Act, it is enacted that "Any "duty imposed on any goods shall not exceed during the first year the duty chargeable on the goods under the "law of Western Australia in force at the imposition of "uniform duties, and shall not exceed during the second, third, fourth, and fifth of such years respectively, four"fifths, three-fifths, two-fifths, and one-fifth of such latter "duty, and all duties imposed under this section shall cease "at the expiration of the fifth year after the imposition of "uniform duties." Note.-The Australian Commonwealth Federal Tariff came into operation on October 8th, 1901. The rates of duty in force in Western Australia prior to the passing of the Federal Tariff were stated in the previous issue of this Return (Parliamentary Paper No. 336 of 1901). (i) In addition to any duty chargeable by law on any goods imported into the Colony, a further duty of 20% ad valorem is charged when the goods are prison made. Such articles and materials as may from time to time be specified by the Commissioner as being suited only for, and to be used solely in, the fabrication of goods within the Colony, may be admitted free of duty. (j) The following articles may be imported free of duty: (1) Flour, wheaten or wheaten meal, including pollard, and The duty on flour imported into Natal (for home consumption only) is suspended to INTRODUCTORY NOTES-continued. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, LAGOS. (2) Spirits distilled from the produce of, and within the Union, of a class upon which, by way of excise, a duty may at the time of importation into the Colony be by its law imposed or levied, unless it be proved that a like duty of not less amount has been paid elsewhere within the Union in respect of the spirits so imported: Provided that, if such a duty shall have so been paid elsewhere within the Union, but of less amount, then there may be by law imposed or levied upon such spirits when imported, a duty of Customs not greater than the difference between the Excise duty legally imposed or levied on spirits of the same class in the Colony, and the duty of less amount which has been so paid elsewhere. All articles imported by post in transit to other parts of the Union, and also wine, spirits and beer for the sole use of commissioned officers serving on full pay in the Regular Military and Naval Forces of His Majesty are admitted free of duty. The countries constituting the South African Customs Union are Cape Colony. Natal. Bechuanaland Protectorate. Basutoland. Note. The Customs Union Tariff is also in operation as regards articles imported for consumption into the Orange River Colony. (k) A drawback of the import duty shall be allowed to the extent of 28. 10d. per gallon on spirits, 7 d. per lb. on manufactured tobacco or snuff, 3 d. on unmanufactured tobacco, and threefourths of the duties of importation upon all other articles, upon their exportation by inland navigation or overland carriage to Porto Novo or to places beyond the western limit of the Colony and Protectorate of Lagos, on such conditions as the Governor in Council may direct, or to parts beyond the seas, other than Northern and Southern Nigeria. Upon articles transhipped out of bond to the countries named, the following duties are payable: Spirits, underproof Liq. gall. 14d. 14d. Lb. One quarter of the GOLD COAST import duty. No drawback is allowed on articles exported to Northern or Southern Nigeria, nor may articles be transhipped thereto until the full duty leviable in Lagos has been paid. Products, natural and mineral, of Northern or Southern Nigeria, and goods upon which duty has been paid therein, may be imported into Lagos free of duty, or, if the duty paid in Nigeria be less than that payable in Lagos, upon payment of the difference of duty. (1) Articles, the bonâ fide produce of West Africa, may be imported into that part of the Colony lying to the west of the River Volta free of duty. (m) A convention concluded on 24th February 1894, between Great Britain and Germany, which came into force in May 1894, provided that "The British Possessions on the Gold and Slave Coasts, lying "to the eastward of the River Volta, and the German "Possessions on the Gold and Slave Coasts, shall form GOLD COAST-cont. SIERRA LEONE GAMBIA NORTH AMERICA: (n) West African produce, and tools, implements and materials imported by miners and prospectors for their bona fide use, may be imported free of duty. (0) Raw materials of African production (except coffee, kola nuts, turpentine, burning oils, edible oils in bulk, rice, salt, sugar, and tobacco) may be imported free of duty. Dominion of Canada - (p) According to the provisions of the British Preferential Tariff And any other British Colony or Possession the Customs tariff of which is, on the whole, as favourable to Canada as the British Preferential Tariff above referred to is to such Colony or Possession. Provided, however, that manufactured articles to be admitted under such preferential tariff shall be bona fide the manufactures of a country or countries entitled to the benefits of such tariff, and that such benefits shall not extend to the importation of articles into the production of which there has not entered a substantial portion of the labour of such countries. Any question arising as to any article being entitled to such benefits, shall be decided by the Minister of Customs, whose decision shall be final. The British Preferential Tariff provides that the above reduction of duty shall not apply to wines, malt liquors, spirits, spirituous liquors, liquid medicines, and articles containing alcohol; tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes; and further that the reduction shall only apply to refined sugar, when evidence satisfactory to the Minister of Customs is furnished that such refined sugar has been manufactured wholly from raw sugar produced in the British Colonies or Possessions. The same reduction (of rd of the duty) is allowed upon raw sugar when imported direct from any British Colony or Possession. See page 263. (q) Such goods are prohibited from importation as may have been manufactured or produced wholly or in part by prison labour, or which have been made within or in connection with any prison, gaol, or penitentiary; also goods similar in character * Goods imported in transit through an intermediate country may be taken as imported direct, on production of bill of lading. &c., proving that the goods were originally intended for INTRODUCTORY NOTES-continued. NORTH AMERICA-Cont. Dominion of Canadacont. Newfoundland BERMUDA WEST INDIA ISLANDS: Jamaica to those produced in such institutions, when sold or offered for sale by any person, firm, or corporation having a contract for the manufacture of such articles in such institutions, or by any agent of such person, firm, or corporation, or when such goods were originally purchased from or transferred by any such contractor. (r) Such goods are prohibited from importation as may have been manufactured or produced wholly or in part by prison labour, or which have been made within or in connection with any prison, gaol, or penitentiary. The Governor in Council may remit the whole or any portion of the duty upon articles imported into the Colony direct from the country of production, when it shall be proved to his satisfaction that the duty on codfish, the produce of Newfoundland, imported into such country has been or will be reciprocally reduced. (s) One-fifth of all import duties payable at one and the same time, by one and the same importer or consignee, on any goods arriving by one and the same vessel or payable by any person on any goods taken out of any bonded warehouse at one and the same time, shall be paid in lawful gold coin, provided that such duties amount to five pounds or any multiple of that sum, but such gold payments shall not be required, except on amounts of five pounds or multiples thereof. (t) Articles subject to an ad valorem rate of duty of 20 °, when not originally shipped with the intention of being brought into this Colony, but subsequently imported, when the requisite information for perfect entry of the same as to the cost or value in the country of production, or place at which they were originally shipped, cannot be ascertained or obtained shall, in lieu of such duty of 20° ad valorem, be charged a duty of 33% on the value at the port of entry, or on the price which they shall realize at auction, when sold and delivered for consumption therein, at the option of the importer, agent, or consignee. (u) Whenever it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Governor in Privy Council, that the interests of the Island will be advanced thereby, he is authorised, with the advice and consent of the Council, to exempt from duty such articles as may be required for use in connection with local industries, or in the preparation of native products, or otherwise, subject to such regulations and conditions, and for such periods as he may see fit. (v) A drawback equal to the duty paid on their importation shall be allowed on shipbuilding materials or accessories of any kind (not being rope or cordage, or wire rope of any kind) which shall have been imported into the Island and used in the construc, tion or repairs of foreign-going vessels of any kind, on presentation to the Chief Officer of Customs at the port of importation of a certificate to the effect that such materials and accessories have been used as aforesaid, under the hand of the builder or repairer of such vessel or boat, who used the same, together with a declaration from such builder or repairer that he believes such shipbuilding materials and accessories to have been imported into the Island. (w) The component parts of any article which is free under the tariff shall also be admitted free of duty; provided such parts of duty-free articles cannot be used for any other purpose than for making up or completing any article which is itself dutyfree, and provided such parts have been specially prepared and manufactured to replace or re-fit articles which are duty-free. |