CO885-(6-7) — Page 10

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

6

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

o 209.

Customs Laws and Tariff Act, 1876 (39 & 40 Vict.

c. 36).

"When any seizure shall have been made, or any of fine or penalty incurred or inflicted, or any person adings, committed to prison for any offence under the Customs Acts, the Commissioners of the Treasury or Customs nay direct the restoration of such seizure, whether. condemnation shall have taken place or not, or waive proceedings or mitigate or remit such fine or penalty, or release from confinement, either before or after conviction, such person on any terms and conditions as they shall see fit."

*

We invite particular attention to these provisions, which we recommend as the model for Colonial legis- lation. The power given to the Customs authorities to waive penalties on terms, in other words to impose mitigated penalties, is of special value. It avoids the cumbrous procedure of suing for penalties before a magistrate, and the, offender will generally be very glad to escape with the mitigated penalty. In practice It will be found that a tine of 5s., or 11. in bad cases, will usually be quite sufficient to secure correct returns, if regularly inflicted; while in grave cases the full penalty would be sued for in the Courts. It should be understood, however, that the object is to secure accuracy and not to harass traders, and that each recommendation for a fine must be submitted to the head of the Customs Department and approved by him before being acted on. Moreover, it not uncommonly happens that the importer, with every desire to afford information, has not the requisite particulars at the moment of landing the goods; and this case will be met by the permission given in section 64 of the Act of 1876 above quoted to amend the entry within 14 days without fine.

IV. One class of cases, arising more frequently in Great Britain than in the Colonies, cannot be dealt with under the foregoing rules. It is that of imports consigned for sale. In such cases the value cannot be given at the time of importation as it is not known, and the best way to ascertain the value appears to be by an official computation from average prices obtained from the trade at frequent intervals, and by carefully watching the markets.

EXPORTS.

V."Exports should be valued as they lie in the port of shipment, the cost of packages being included.

VI. The value of the goods shown in the ship's manifest should be ascertained from the declaration of the exporter, to be supported, when required, by production of the invoice; and penalties should be imposed for incorrect_declaration exactly as in the case of imports. As, however, the exporter may not always be able to give the required information before the sailing of the vessel, a certain period of grace should be given conformably to the British practice.* The actual period assigned should be determined by the facilities of communication, which will vary in

• See p. 9.

different Colonies; but it should not be longer than absolutely necessary.

VII. The case of Exports consigned for sale presents a difficulty analogous to that in the case of imports. Bearing in mind the principle which should govern the valuation of exports, we consider that this can best be preserved by officially computing the values at the place and time of sale, and deducting therefrom the cost of freight and insurance. There should in practice be little or no difficulty in ascer- taining the amount of these charges for each descrip- tion of goods.

To facilitate the comparison of trade statistics we would add the following recommendations :——

VIII. Bullion and specie should be included in the returns.

IX. Values should be expressed at any rate for totals--in pounds sterling.

X. Weights and Measures should be simplified as much as possible, Imperial standards alone being used. If for the convenience of trade it is thought necessary to permit declarations to be made in local, or indeterminate, weights and measures, these should be converted by the Customs when abstracting the declarations.

XI. There should be a common statistical period, which should be the year from the 1st January to the 31st December. We regret that there is at present an embarrassing want of uniformity in this respect. The Indian returns are made up for the -period 1st April to 31st March, and some of the Colonial returns for the period 1st July to 30th

June.

XII. In the case of Gibraltar, and Hong Kong (which are free ports) returns of imports and exports are non-existent. In Malta, apparently from the reluctance of merchants to make known their trading operations, the returns are very imperfect. We do not consider it within our province to suggest that this state of things should not be allowed to continue, or to point out the steps that might be taken to amend it; and we can only call attention to the serious gap in the statistics of the trade of the Empire arising from these causes. We may point out that although the ports of the Straits Settlements are free ports, the local authorities are able to compile returns of their imports and exports.

XIII. One of the first subjects on which those Countries of interested in trade questions seek to obtain informa- origin and

destinations tion from these returns is the volume of trade between one country and another; and the problem of devising regulations for determining the countries of origin and destination has engaged our earnest attention.