Report of a Committee appointed to inquire into the Compilation of Im- port and Export Statistics in the Colonies.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
C.O. 885
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
:
TRADE STATISTICS OF THE COLONIES. THE latest information at our disposal as to the manner in which imports and exports are valued in the various Colonies for statistical purposes
is con-
tained in the replies of the Colonial Governments to
the circular Despatch addressed to them by the Earl Appendix A of Kimberley on the 4th December 1882. We have
no reason to believe that the practice has been materially altered since that date.
No general rules on the subject have at any time been laid down for the guidance of Colonial officials; and the system actually in force in each Colony has been independently developed, subject only to such® modifications as may have been introduced from time to time by officers transferred from one Colony to another in the ordinary course of promotion. The natural consequence is that at the present time there is no uniformity either in the principles on which these valuations are based or in the procedure by which the results are obtained.
Speaking generally, the Colonies regard the value Imports, of an import to the importing country as being either-
A. Its value at the port of shipment; or
B. Its value at the port of shipment, plus a per
.:
centage which is the same for all classes of goods whatever their character; or
C. Its value as it lies in the port of entry. The second method of valuing imports may be regarded as a rough approximation towards the principle of the third method.
A. The first method is followed in about one half › of the total number of Colonies. It is adopted by Canada, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, Fiji, Gambia, Gold Coast, Lagos, Sierra Leone, Jamaica, Tuck's Island, Barbados, St. Vincent, Tobago, St. Lucia, Grenada, Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat, Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Bermuda, British Honduras, and British Guiana.
B. The second method is adopted by South Australia, New Zealand, Natal, and St. Helena 10 per cent. being added in each case to the value at the port of shipment, and by the Cape, where 5 per cent. is now added.*
C. The third method is adopted by Cyprus Malta, Ceylon, and the Straits Settlements.
Victoria, Tasmania, and Trinidad have a double system of valuation. In Victoria “goods on which "ad valorem duties are payable are by law appraised "at their fair market value at the principal markets of the country whence they were exported, with "10 per cent. added. Valuations of other goods
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• Customs Amendment Act, 1885, sec. 4. By this Act (800) 3} goods brought across the inland border are to be reckoned at their value at the place in Africs from whence they were imported.
† In the case of Malta it would appear that only goods subject to duty are valued.
U 66076. 250,- 10/91. G. 46. Wt. 2811). E. & §. A
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