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PUBLIC

PECORD OFFICE

Reference:

C.O.882/12

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

184

possible under Head VI, but we consider that the rents now charged for Crown lands in general, and for shooting land in particular are much too low and should be increased when the leases fall due for renewal. Head VII is made up of loan interest an reimbursements, interest on Savings Bank Funds, on Investments held by the Commissioners of Currency, and on bank balances. Head XI is of trifling amount. It will be seen, therefore, that' apart from the small amount suggested under Head V, no increase of revenue is to be looked for except under Heads I and III which cover all the sources of ordinary taxation.

5. Head I is divided between Import Duties and Export Duties as follows:-

Import duties Export duties

Total

Import duties.

Rs.

4,000,000

762,000

R4,762,000

The list of dutiable imports is long and varied, comprising article- of almost every description except certain of those required for the agricultural industries of the Colony, for the use of the naval. military, civil, or municipal services, articles produced by the island of Rodrigues or other Dependencies of Mauritius, books. educational materials, quinine, and a few essential articles of food such as meat, eggs, and butter, for which the Colony is mainly dependent upon oversea supply. A preferential tariff is granted to certain British imports, at varying rates of preference ranging generally from 5 per cent. to 15 per cent. ad valorem, and rising in the case of motor cars and accessories to 284 per cent ad valorem.

The amounts of duty collected during the year 1930-31 from the principal articles of imports may be distributed into the following eight main categories, viz. :—

Food

185

Export duties.

The exports of the Colony consist of two articles only, viz., sugar and aloe fibre. The latter is subject to a duty at the rate of R.1 per 1,000 kilos, which in the year 1930-31 produced a revenue of Rs.1,470. Sugar ceased to be a source of ordinary revenue a few years ago when the export duty was repealed and a house tax was substituted. It continued to be liable, however, for a small special duty of two cents per 100 kilos to provide a fund for the destruction of phytalus smithii, the chief insect enemy of the sugar cane, and a further special duty of Rs.3.60 per 1,000 kilos was imposed in 1929 to provide for the repayment of Govern- ment loans to the sugar industry amounting to Rs.11,000,000 (approximately). The estimated yields for these two special duties for the current financial year are Rs.40,000 and Rs.720,000 respectively.

6. The revenue of the Colony from internal taxation is detailed under Head III of the Estimates as follows :-

III.-Licences, Excise and Internal Revenue not otherwise classified. Licences.

1. Licences

2. Boat licences

Excise duties.

3. Rum issued for home consumption

4. Rum denaturated-duty and charges 5. Tobacco

6. Duty on scales

Rs.

1,250,000

9,600

2,250,000

7,500 450,000

Internal Revenue, etc.

4,400

7. Taxes on vehicles and animals

410,000

Rs.

8. House tax

400,000

786,452

9. Stamp duties

160,000

Drink

417,772

10. Fines, courts and miscellaneous

125,000

Clothing

412,128

11. Duty on alcohol issued for the prepara-

Household goods

390,06-1

tion of medicinal tinctures and drugs

1,500

Tobacco

607,086

12. Duty on vinegar

400

Luxuries

37,178

13. Sewerage rates

64,800

Transport

871,574

14. Registration fees...

700,000

Industrial

378,353

15. Mortgages, inscriptions and transcrip-

These categories taken together, account for Rs.3,900,607 of the total import duty, amounting to Rs.4,136,008, collected during the year.

tions

35,000

Rs.5,868,200

!