(3) There are the commodities not specifically mentioned and not associated either with a specific or general class of goods in the tariff. The following illustrations may serve to clarify the discussion : (1) Canadian Tariff of 1907: Group I. Animals, agricultural products, fish, etc. No. 82. Grape wines; gooseberry, raspberry, currant, and rose bushes; fruit plants, n.o.p. trees, plants, and shrubs, commonly known as nursery stock n.o.p. (2) Canadian Tariff, Group I., No. 133: All other articles, the produce of the fisheries n.o.p. ("N.o.p. represents, and has the meaning of the words, not otherwise provided for.") (3) Canadian Tariff Group II: Miscellaneous, No. 711. "All goods not enumerated in this schedule as subject to any other rate of duty and not otherwise declared free from duty, and not being goods the importation whereof is by law prohibited. "Provided that duty shall not be deemed to be provided for by this item upon dutiable goods mentioned as n.o.p." in any preceding tariff item." The distinctions attempted to be drawn will, I think, now be more concretely realised. Only the last two classes really enter into the question. § 8. Just as there are two principal standpoints from which to view the problem of unenumerated goods, so are there two main principles of treatment. They may be レ described as the principle of assimilation and the principle of uniform treatment. An illustration of each will serve again to make the position clearer. In the Canadian tariff No. 711, cited above, all the goods comprised within the number are dutiable at 15 per cent. or 17 per cent. ad valorem according as they come under the British Preferential Tariff or the General Tariff. This is the principle of uniformity. So also in South Africa a 15 per cent. ad valorem duty shall be imposed upon All goods, wares, and merchandise not elsewhere charged with duty, and not enumerated in the free list, and not prohibited to be imported into the Union. The assimilation rule can be illustrated from the U.S.A. Tariff No. 386 ("Similitude" rule). That each and every imported article not enumerated in this section which is similar, either in material, quality, texture, or the use to which it may be applied, to any article enumerated in this section as chargeable with duty, shall pay the same rate of duty which is levied on the enumerated article which it most resembles in any of the particulars before-mentioned, and if any non-enumerated article equally resembles two or more enumerated articles on which different rates of duty are chargeable, there shall be levied on such non-enumerated article the same rate of duty as is chargeable on the article which it resembles paying the highest rate of duty. It would be wasted space to add to the illustrative material, which could be drawn from almost every tariff in the world.1 In general the principle of assimilation has as wide a distribution as the principle of inclusion of which indeed it may be said to be the logical consequence. Sometimes both principles are incorporated in the tariff-viz., Sweden. "Class XVI., Articles not elsewhere mentioned," contains the following numbers with the superscription as given ARTICLES WHICH CANNOT BE CLASSED UNDER No. 1,324. Raw materials, No. 1,325. More or less manipulated, Free. 15 per cent. Here assimilation is clearly conceived to be the rule, whilst the principle of uniformity is laid down for the residual products.2, 3. 1 For further instances of assimilation, see Brazil, Prelim. Disp., Art. 13 (Kelly. p. 898); Mexico, Sec. C of General Regs. for Application of the Tariff (" Mex, Year Book, 1911," p. 405); Spain, § 22 of Disposition IV. Many of these tariffs also contain rules of the kind treated of in § 9. In Germany, according to § 3 of the Federal Customs Act of 1869, the principle of exclusion is laid down. In 1879, when the protectionist reaction had set in, it was proposed that this rule should be abrogated and that the principle of assimilation for non-enumerated goods should be adopted. This proposal was rejected. "The rule is of no material importance," for even before the last revision of the tariff only two commodities succeeded in not being brought under one or other head of the tariff. This result was achieved by the use of the power given in § 12 of the Federal Customs Act to issue an official tariff list (Amtliches Warenverzeichniss) for the right interpretation of the tariff, which, of course, § 9. The methods by which, in practice, assimilation is carried out can be dealt with more usefully in connection with the discussion on classification disputes in a later chapter. But it will be in place here to deal with the rules of assimilation applicable to complicated cases-viz., mixed goods. What should be the treatment of commodities composed of more than one material? This is a question which, as a matter of fact can be, and is, answered in more than one way by the tariff makers of the world. It is possible to— (1) Rate on the basis of each component separately, either according to value or to quantity. (2) Rate on the basis of the principal component only, either according to quantity or value, or some other test of importance. It must be observed that the determination of the precise values and quantities may present very great administrative difficulties, but this can be overlooked for the moment in the search for principles. A few actual cases will suffice to show the principles adopted practically.5 U.S. Tariff of 1913, No. 386. on articles not enumerated, manufactured of two or more materials, the duty shall be assessed at the highest rate at which the same would be chargeable if composed wholly of the component material thereof of chief value, and the words 'component material of chief value' whenever used in this section shall be held to mean that component material which shall exceed in value any other single component material of the article; and the value of each component material shall be determined by the ascertained value of such material in its condition. is equivalent to conferring the right to assimilate. See Trautvetter, op. cit., pp. 65, 107, et seq. On the position of substitutes mentioned in the text, see espec. § 139 of the Australian Customs Act. 3 In those cases where the values of goods for purposes of customs taxation are established by Government (the so-called Official Valuation System), unenumerated goods are sometimes declared taxable at an uniform rate on the value assigned them by importers-e.g., Argentina. This used to be the case in the United Kingdom, so long as official valuation was applied. See Book of Rates of 1660,"Goods inwards not rated to pay 5 per cent." S.R., vol. v., p. 202. 4 So far as can be discovered, this principle is not applied in any tariff as a general basis of assimilation, but “double taxation "—e.g., sugar goods also containing alcohol-is to be found. And see also the surtax in the case of Brazil below also German tariff note referred to in the same connection. 5 For other instances, see Chile, Law of March 1st, 1916, Art. 2 (F.T.C. 149); Sweden, § 1 of Instructions (Cd. 5464, p. 84); in France the administrative practice dates from the ancien régime, a decision of the Conseil du Roi of 1760, first enunciating it clearly, Pallain I., § 76. V as found in the article. If two or more rates of duty shall be applicable to any imported article, it shall pay duty at the highest of such rates." Spain-522 of Disposition IV.—“The assessment of duty on articles composed of two or more materials shall be subject to the following rules: "(a) In cases not provided for in the tariff, and when the value of the article is determined by the exterior material, the classification shall be made according to the corresponding number of that material. "(b) Articles which, by reason of their nature and application, are composed of two different materials, as, for instance, tools, shall be taxed according to the weight of the predominant material. "(c) When a mixture of different materials has been made in order to evade the payment of the rates paid by any particular number of the tariff on any article, as for instance, a mixture of flour and bran, of earth and a soluble chemical product, the duty of the material paying the highest duty shall be paid." One more instance may be given, that of Brazil, which shows extreme specification of treatment. Article II of Preliminary Dispositions.-" Wares manufactured or composed of different materials, not subject to special or fixed duties in the tariff or regulated by any particular provision shall be subject to the duties established for similar wares manufactured solely from the predominating material; in case of equality of materials, or of doubt as to the predominating material, such wares shall pay according to the most highly taxed material. Mixed tissues, with respect to which the special regulations established in the following article must be observed, are excepted: "MIXED TISSUES. "Art. 12. Tissues visibly composed of different materials, for which no special duty is stipulated in the tariff, shall pay the duty of the most highly taxed component material, whatever be the proportion, except when all the threads of the woof and all those of the warp are composed of a material( subject to the lowest duty, in which case a reduction of 10 per cent. will be granted. "For tissues mixed with silk the following rules must be observed : "I. Mixed tissues in which all the threads of the woof or all those of the warp are of silk and the remaining threads of different material, shall pay the duties stipulated for similar, tissues composed entirely of silk, with a reduction of 50 per cent. "2. Mixed tissues with the warp and woof of silk, but in the warp or woof of which, or in both, there are visible tissues. of any other material, shall pay the duties established for similar tissues composed entirely of silk, with a reduction of 20 per cent. "No reduction, however, shall be granted to tissues of silk when in the warp or woof are found threads of a less highly taxed material in such an insignificant quantity that they do not alter the nature, importance, or value of the tissues. "3. Mixed tissues with the warp and woof composed of other materials, but in the warp or woof of which or in both there are a few threads or mixture of silk shall pay the duties leviable on the most highly taxed material with a surtax of 30 per cent. "4. Tissues of any material mixed with gold or silver, and not specially classed in the tariff, shall pay the duties leviable on plain corresponding tissues with a surtax of 20 per cent." In these cases the search for the principle is lightened by its being laid down in the preliminaries of the tariff. In other cases an arduous investigation of the notes to the various tariff classes is required-e.g., Germany (General Notes to Nos. 391 to 543 of the Tariff; number of threads to be basis. of estimating" predominant material," Note (a)); Switzerland, note to Class VII. ("Mixed yarns, etc., are, unless otherwise stipulated, dutiable as articles manufactured wholly of the component material subject to the higher duty "). § 10. But the choice as the basis of assimilation of the weight or value and highest rate of duty of one of the components does not, in fact, dispose of all the difficulties) associated with the treatment of mixed goods. The point is briefly this, does the choice of the component of the predominant value or the predominant weight or paying the highest rate of duty involve payment on the basis of the weight or value of that component as actually ascertained or does it |