P-Ng Produce

Export Duties For

Tax on Cocoa and Rubber

A PROPOSAL made by Mr. D.

Barrett, member for New Guinea Islands, that no export duty be paid on the first 50 tons of cocoa produced and exported by any one grower, was defeated in the May session of the Papua-New Guinea Legislative Council.

The proposal was made as an amendment during the debate on the Customs (Cocoa Export) Tariff Bill, which was introduced by the Treasurer of P-NG, Mr. H. H.

Reeve.

Mr. Reeve said that the amend ment was unacceptable to him— that it would be impossible, under the present set-up and with a spate of native cocoa holdings now coming into production, to ensure that each planter would get the benefit of the first 50 duty-free tons.

He said that his Department had arrived at £llO as being the cost of production of a ton of cocoa and as export duty was not payable on cocoa until it had reached £l5O a ton, this gave at least £4O margin; his Department felt that in this there was no hardship even for the new grower and that he did not at this stage need further assistance.

The bill provides for the follow ing sliding scale of export duty:—

An amendment by Mr. Barrett ! that duty in the higher brackets be lower (i.e., £lB/15/- to become £l7/10/-; £22/10- to be £2O/-/-;

£ 35i-£ 275 .. .. £376-£300 .. .. £301 & ud of value.

Assessed Value Rate of Duty per ton per ton Up to £150 Nil £ 151- £ 175 £5 0 0 £176- £300 £10 0 0 £201- £225 £15 0 0 £226-£250 £18 15 0

: and £26 5 - to be £25 '-/-) was also » defeated.

As cocoa is not sold by forward > contract—that is, at a predeter - [ mined price—as is copra, but is ssold by planters themselves, as and [how they please, provision is made :in the bill for the assessment by r the Customs Department of the value of the cocoa or derivative of »cocoa at the time of its export, and i duty is to be paid thereon. If the [planter or exporter receives more ►or less than has been assessed, then the matter has to be adjusted as ’between planter (or exporter) and the Chief Collector of Customs.

'This part of the Bill obviously ►caused some private members mis givings as they foresaw a continual istream of correspondence between planters and Customs Department >on the matter of refunds, etc.

During the debate on the bill, Mr. E. A. James, elected member for Papua, and Mr. B. E. Fairfax- Ross, a nominated member for the isame area, went on record as ob jecting in principle to export duty: it was, they said, a sectional tax levied only at producers.

Rubber Tariff Bill

A SOMEWHAT similar bill was that to amend the Customs (Rubber Export) Ordinance, 1951, which was introduced by Mr.

Reeve at the same session.

The amendment arose because, when export duty on rubber was first introduced, the price of Papuan rubber was based on the price then ruling in Singapore, and it was simple to calculate an F. 0.8. declared value on rubber exported from the Territory. More recently, however, Papuan rubber planters have had to make other arrange ments for the sale of their rubber in Australia, and there is now no hard and fast method of predeter mining the final price.

Therefore, the Treasury proposed the same methods as with cocoa— a provisional declared value and a

final adjustment.

Papuan rubber price is now below the dutiable point. If the value is not more than 2 6 per pound, no duty is payable, between 2/7 and 3 - the duty is Id per pound; and it thereafter rises by approximately Id for each sixpence increase in price—when the price is between 5 I and 6/- per pound, the duty will be 6d per pound. r Mr. M. J. Bernhardt, Chief Clerk, Western Pacific High Commission, retired in May after 25 years’ ser vice with the BSIP Government.

He was Chief Clerk, Resident Com missioner’s Department, BSIP until the arrival of the High Commission staff in Honiara last December. He lived in Tulagi for many years be fore the War. He travelled to Syd ney in the May Malaita and re joined his wife and family in Australia.