Minutes of Evidence p.1401-1509 - Parliament of Victoria

1411
47743. How was that divided between tobacco and cigars ?-£20,500 in
cigars. But for the next twelve months the duty came to £65,000.
47744. You still speak of excise only ?-All in excise.
tobacco and £1,300 in H. T. Hammoml,
cMtinuea.
26th A:prill88~.
. 47745. How was that divided ?-£62,287 for tobacco and £2,616 for cigars. For the financial year
ending 30th June, or two months from now, the estimated revenue is £75,000 or an increase of £10,000
over last year; and the amount already received induces me to believe that that figure will be reached. ·
47746. That is an increase of £10,000 only upon last year ?-£10,000.
47747 . .And the way in which the duty is being paid induces you to believe that that will be
realized ?-Yes.
47748. So from a revenue point of view the imposition of the excise duty has been beneficial ?-As
far as the excise is concerned.
47749. By JJfr. Walker.-You have lost it upon the other one ?-I say so far as excise goes.
47750. By the Chairman.-Can you give the Commission any information as to the total quantityof
tobacco and cigars that goes into consumption-now has it increased or decreased since the duties were
imposed ?-The quantity of colonial tobacco and cigars has increased.
4775!. The excise shows that, but has that increase upon the colonial more than compensat€d for
the decrease upon the imported ?-I can give you the figures of the imported for the last three or four years.
47752. That is the weight ?-The duty, I have the different rates, so it would be -very easy to strike
the weight, but I see I have the weights. ,
47753. What was the total consumption of tobacco in the colony, say for three years preceding the
change, and for three years since the change was made ?-The duty upon the import€d was, for 1878-79,
at 2s. a pound, £61,000; and 1879-80, at the same rate, it was £49,000 ; and when the tariff was altered
from 2s. to 3s., there were two amounts taken in 1880-81, at 2s. £20,000 and at 3s. £17,500. In 1881-82,
at 3s., the revenue was £41,000.
47754. Now can you give me what the weights were at these dates, the quantity ?-For 1877-78,
613,659 lbs.; for the next year, 489,262 lbs.; for the third year at two rates, 376,125lbs.; for 1881-82,
411,482lbs.; and for the first nine months of this present financial year, 353,169lbs.
47755. Those are all imported?-Those are all imported.
47756. So that notwithstanding the imposition of a higher duty, the import is pretty well keeping
up ?-Yes, it is.
47757. So that the totaJ consumption is much larger than it was before ?-Yes.
47758. Then those who are under the impression that the duties have made men leave off smoking
are under a wrong impression ?-They are, the facts speak for themselves.
47759. Will you give me the weights of colonial tobacco that has been used ?-I have not got the
weights, I can easily get them for you, but of course it is at Is. a pound, and that is easily found. The
second year, that is from the 1st of July, 1881, to the end of June, 1882, out of the 65,000 lbs. manufactured
tobacco excise, 10,000 lbs. was imported. leaf.
47760. That leaves 55,000 lbs. tobacco and cigars ?-Colonial grown.
47761. How much did you collect upon cigars that year; let us deduct it ?-£2,600, and so in
proportion for this current year.
47762. Have you any further information to give the Commission ?-No, I have no information
except that I think that since the duty was imposed and since manufacturers were allowed to get their
condiments in free of duty, they have turned out a far better article than before the imposition of it. "
47763. The quality of the coloniaJ article is improving ?-I say so.
47764. You heard the evidence of various witnesses fo1· the modification of the licence-fee for manufacturers,
how would that act ?-I think the duty is as low as it cim be.
47765. What is the lowest licence-fee charged to cigar manufacturers ?-Fifty pounds.
47766. Is that charged to the man or to the building?-To the man, the licensee.
47767. Suppose two or three small men club together in one building, would you charge £50 each?
-No, we charge the building then.
47768. There is nothing to prevent small men, two or three of them, uniting and using one building
and dividing it between them ?-That was what we asked them to do yvhen the .Act came in, and we asked
them to go all into one large building upon the wharf, but I suppose they were all jealous of their particular
trade and they refused.
47769. You heard the question asked about the licence-fee to the tobacconists ?-Yes.
47770. Would that be of any service to your department ?-No, it would bring no more revenue.
47771. You heard about an inspector looking after tobacco, as he is supposed to do in the matter of
grog-how would that work ?-As to the labels?
47772. Yes, to see that the public have not the colonial article forced upon them as the imported?.-
Yes, I think that is a very good suggestion-! refer to the label. ·
47773. Not to the inspector?-No, not to the inspector.
, 47774. What is your opinion about inspection-woulcl that be feasible, could the department carry
it out ?-I do not think they could distinguish between imported and colonial tobacco.
47775. By Jl:lr. Jffcintyre.-Not if they smoked it ?-Yes, of course.
47776. By the Hon. Mr. Lm·imer.-You say the consumption of tobacco has increased during the:
last few years ?-I said, in answer to Mr. :Mirams, that the revenue upon the import had not fallen off.
47777. I see the revenue upon tobacco in 18'73 was £146,000 ?-I have not got that.
47778. In 1881 the combined excise and import revenue was £133,000, that is a loss of £13,000 in
the aggregate from 1873 to 1881 ?-I was only s~eaking of the dat~s I have got down here. .
477'79. Have you calculated the consumptwn of the two articles, the home-made and the Imported.
article ?-As I understood lVIr. Mirams' question, it was whether the quantity of importei.l tobacco had been.
lessened-that was the question that I answered, not as far as the cluty was concerned, but as to the quantity.
47780. You have given contrary evidence to some of your precl,ecessors who have been. examined,.
that the consumption of tobacco has increased rather than diminished?-Yes.
47781. The two together ?-The two together, but I meant the difference between the excise duties:
of the two years. ·