DESPATCHES FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
No. 24.
HONGKONG.
Miscellaneous.
DOWNING STREET,
22nd December, 1913.
SIR,-I have the honour to transmit to you for your information a copy of a despatch which has been received by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from His Majesty's Minister at Lisbon reporting certain modifications in the customs tariff of the Province of Timor..
I have, &c.,
L. HARCOURT.
The Officer Administering the Government of
No. 74.
Commercial. (54,134)
HONGKONG.
LISBON,
22nd November, 1913.
SIR, I have the honour to report that by a decree No. 227 published in the official gazette of the 18th instant, and dated the same day, the customs tariff of the Province of Timor is modified as follows:
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Article -Fresh fruit, ice and live domestic animals for food, imported through the Timor Customs House:-To be free of duty.
Article 2.-The duty of $2.52 (say 10 shillings) on each picul of 62 kilogrammes of coffee exported is maintained.
Article 3.--Wax, sandalwood, sandal-root, and all other products will henceforth pay an export duty of 10% ad valorem.
§1. The duty established by the Decree of September 20th, 1906, with regard to the export of minerals, will remain in force.
The preamble to the Decree explains the remission of the import duties (Article 1) as rendered expedient by the fact that the imports in question are free of duty in other Portuguese Colonial possessions. As regards Article 3 the object in view is to maintain the principle of substituting an ad valorem tax for the specific duty. Finally it is stated that the agricultural and commercial development of the province has entailed heavier expenditure by the State in regard to the administrative services including the Customs.
I have, etc.,
LANCELOT D. CARNEGIE.