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

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1416 ,::r. F.J!Iylarrd, not prepared for your question, but when you come to look at it I do not think the difference would be so 26t~ 0 1~~~e'{s 83 , much as you imagine, because, if N e>v ~outh Wales limits it to coloniaJ productions, the officers at ths Murray would stop the wines unless they a, certificate that it is colonial production. 47904. Then you go back to the that it might be limited to colonial productions ?-Yes. 47905. Then the other difficulty smuggling comes in ?-Yes. 47906 . .All I can tell you is this, that individually, and I believe I for the Commission, we should. be if we can propose some scheme by which intercolonial free-trade not only in wine but other can be brought about ; but, up to the present, I confess I have not had much light thrown upon the question, and I do not see my way clearly to it yet ?-I think it could be devised if there were some meeting of commercial men to take it into consideration. Of course there was a commercial treaty between South .Australia and Victoria. .At the first, in such a treaty, there might be an advantage on one side or the other, but that would vanish as soon as the stocks were done. Possibly for the first six months, if there were such a treaty as this between South .Australia and Vietoria, there might be a quantity of wine from India, but I doubt, after the first three mcnths, w bother Victoria would not send three hogsheads for every one she from South .Australia, for the wines are different in quality. The trade will be dormant for the next or eight months, but if the South .Australian wines were here which differed in character, they would be drunk largely, and the merchant would maintain his trade in them all the year round. 47907. Is there any other point you want to bring under our notice?-The border duties is themain thing I came to upon, but there are other matters that I will not go· into at this late time of the evening, but unless some such system as I mention is carried out you will not be able to cultivate the English market, or any other market, to any great extent. If we Ciculd get the New South Wales wines here, and eentraJize them, aud prep11re them fer export, no dcubt a large business might be done in .Australian but as to their production I do not lcok so much to fgreign markets, for we are, I think, more than capable of eonsuming all the wines we produee, and beyond that, the other colonies the same, providecl free exchange was carried out between them. The witness withdrew. 'R. Montgomery, 26th Aprill883. Con.Ks. Richard Montgomery sworn and examined, 47908. By tlw"Chairman.-What are you ?-Cork merchant. 47909. Are you a cork cutter as well ?-No. I have one man in my employment just to do littie· jobs that come in. 47910. I understand you to be desirous of putting before the Commission some information in rela, tion to this business in corks beyond what was afforded us the other afternoon, when we were inquiring into the matter, is that oo ?-That is so. 47911. Will you state brieily, if you please, what you desire to ?-I may say to the Commission that I am indifferent whether the duty comes off or stays on, because if it on, as it is at we charge our customers with the duty. So that it makes no difference to me personally; but I have been requested by some of tl1e large cork consumers, for instance in the soda-water trade, to give evidence to show that it is a great burthen to them. Mr. Rowlancls, for instanee, is about the largest cork consumer in Victoria. 47912. Would it not have been much better for this evidence to come from themselves ?-I asked them to come down. Mr. Rowlands has at present gone to England. 47913. I wish to point out to you that I cannot permit second-hand evidence in this case any more than in any other, as I strictly limit our evidence to the way in which it affects the person himself who gives evidence ?-I want to show that in 1881 the of corks were 200,000 lbs. weight, that was at 4d. a pound duty, and a gross of corks is as near as possible a pound weight, so th&t the import was 200,000 gross. 47914. That is 4cl. a gross ?-Yes, and the duty paid was 47915. What is the average price of a gross of eorks corks at 14d. to fine wine corks at 7s. a g1·oss, but they all pay the same 47916. Which has the eonsumption; is not there a far larger consumption in gingerbeer and lemonade corks ?-Yes, by far. 47917. The value of those corks is how much a gross ?-Lemonade corks are worth about 2s. to 2s. 4d. a gross. 47918 . .And then you add the duty on to that ?-No, that is duty paid. 47919. Without the duty, say 2s. ?-Without the duty ls. 10d. or 2s. 47920. How many gross does a manufacturer use-say one like ::Yir. Rowlands ?-I do not know how many gross, lmt I know that he paid within a few pounds of £500 duty last year. But I would. wish to point out, as I said before, that it is immaterial to me whether the duty remains on or eomes off, but it would take 100 men to manufacture the corks imported in 1881, and sinee the duty was in 1872 there has never been one who has gone into the trade of cork manufacture upon a scale to supply the large consumers, because would not pay. 47921. Can you tell the Commission what kind of corks the few men do cut who are employed in this business in :Melbourne ?-Principally, I believe, they cut corks for chemists. 47922. That is your experience ?-Yes; and for any jobs that are wanted. 47923. Do they cut bungs for brewers ?-They do a few, because the are heavier than eorks,. and, consequently, the duty is higher. 47924. What is the value of bungs a pound ?-From 2s. up to 4s. 6cl. a gross-some higher. 47925. But I speak about how much a pound; they would more than a pound a gross ?- there is ls. a gross duty, and they would weigh three pounds a 47926. If the duty were taken off the bungs, those men who bungs would~be out of employment? -.As far as I know, I think all the men at present employed in cork.cutting would be still employed, even if the duty were off, because it is for special work.
1417 47927. You clo not call bungs special work, do you ?-I have a cork cutter, but I should need him ~tU the same if the duty was off to-monow; and I wns to show that in 1881 there was only twenty tons weight of cork wood imported, and take the half to be ten tons of what we call to be virgin c6i·k wood, used for ornamental purposes in gardens and so on, leaving ten tons of which is 10,000 gross, or the work of six men. That is in 1881. The cork wood, and all the corks come to this country, are mostly from Spain and Portugal. They are manufactured there, and a bale of cork wood, that would produce fifty gross of corks, would measure half a ton. That is what the would be when it is manufactured into corks ; it' measures just the lutlf, so that the importing cork wood into the country costs double in freight alone what manufactured corks cost. For corks the freight is 1~d. a gross, but if, you bring cork wood the freight is 3d. a gros~. If some person knew the trade, and had capital, there has been an opportunity in the last ten years. I know the trade from beginning to end, but I never could see that it would pay, or I would have commenced it long ago. 47928. Would there be any diffiCLtlty in m~nying out the proposal made by one of the cork cutters to the Commission the other day that the duty should be iucreasBd from 4d. to 6d. a pound, and should be confined only to the class of corks cut here-the chemists' corks ?-I would have no objection at all. 47929. I do not ask that. I ask practically would there be any difficulty in carrying out that suggestion ?-It must be because chemists use all sm·ts of corks-big ones and little ones, and it would not be much protection. 47930. Do not go into that please. Keep to the definite point. You are an experienced hand in this business ?-Yes. 47931. Have been at it for many years ?-Yes. 47932. Is there any technical term by which chemists' corks are known in the trade which is not applied to any other corks-soda-water or any other?-Yes. 47933. Then there is such a technical name ?-Yes. 47934. Then if you apply that name and all other corks shall come in free but those, the trade and every one else would known what was meant 47935. And you could prevent defrauding the revenue '?-Yes, but 6d. a pound upon corks would not be any protection. 47936. That is not to the pm·pose. themselves ought to know and they ask for it. All I ask from you can practical effect be to it?-Yes, the names of corks would be vials and daffies. 47937. Assuming that there might be !t way of evading the Customs by names and technical terms, for people who want t.o evade the Customs are very clever at it, is there a measurement that could be used ?-No, no measurement. A daffy is a cork a little larger than a vial cork, used for what we call ounce bottles. 47938. What is the size of that cork in diameter ?-It is smaller than a ginger beer cork and larger than a vial. 47939. Assuming that a vial cork is anything up to three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and that a daffy is half-an-inch, and that gingerbeer corks and other corks used by those cordial manufacturers are five-eighths or three-quarters of an inch, would it not be possible to make a tariff that all corks half-an-inch and downwards in diameter are to pay 6d. a pound duty and all corks above that free ?-Yes, it could be done. 47940. Would not that be feasible ?-Yes, it would. 47941. Have you anything else to say ?-No. The witness withdrew. U. Mont~omery, t:ontinued, 26th Apr!l1888. Robert Godwin sworn and examined. 47942. By the Chairman.-'\!Vhat are you ?-Cork manufacturer. l!obertGodw!n, 47943. Cork cutter ?-Cork manufacturer, in all its branches. 26th Apri!Isaa. 47944. Have you read the evidence that was given by other people in your business the other clay? -I have. 47945. Do you agree with the proposal to increase the dnty to 6d. a pound upon all corks of a certain character, and let the rest in free ?-It is impossible to separate them like that. 47946. Assuming that they could be separated, do you agree with that in principle ?-If the duty is increased to 6d. a pound, it must be over a,ll kinds of corks. 47947. Assuming for the that such a division could be made, would you be satisfied with it ?-No. 47948. Why would you not be satisfied ?-I would rather the duty remain as it i:; than that it should be altered in that form, because the would be handicapped very heavily against all others. 47949. Tell me now, what difference it would make to a druggist whether he paid 6d. a pound duty npon his corks or 4d. imported price in some of the small corks is only 6cl. a gross, and 6d. duty would be a shilling. 47950. We are not talking about a gross, we are talking about a pound; how much would a gross of this sort weigh ?-Those small homreopathic corh we are cutting weigh about five gross to the pound, and the duty is only 4d. · 47951. Five gross of corks now pay 4d. duty upon the iivc ?-Just so. 47952. If this proposal were canicd out, it would pay 6d. upon the five gross ?-Yes. 47953. Do vou mean to tell me that that would make the appreciable difference to a homreopathic chemist ?-Not upon that line of eork~. 47954:. That is one shut Ollt ; \\ L~:t ;"' : h: ,.. , vial corks. 47955. What are they price is from 9d. to ls. and upwards. 47956. A gross ?-A gross. 47957. Take ls. a gross as being the easiest, how many gross of those go to the ponnd ?-Three to four. TARIFF. 8R
Page 1 and 2: 1401 47±25. How many pounds do the
Page 3 and 4: 1403 4748±. You say you received t
Page 5 and 6: 1405 475±9. Do yon mean to say it
Page 7 and 8: 1407 told me thttt they preferred l
Page 9 and 10: 1409 because the revenue would not
Page 11 and 12: 1411 47743. How was that divided be
Page 13 and 14: l4:13 47824. Y on did not need to a
Page 15: 1415 Yarraville constructed and mai
Page 19 and 20: 14Hl 47998. You cut litt.le corks o
Page 21 and 22: 1421 48060. Would the public get th
Page 23 and 24: 1423 48145 . .Are they aule to comp
Page 25 and 26: 1425 48210. How many hours do they
Page 27 and 28: 1427 48283. What prevented you from
Page 29 and 30: '1429 Frederick Kennon sworn and ex
Page 31 and 32: 1431 Gillman Goodrich Pearce sworn
Page 33 and 34: 1433 48483. Who uses condensed milk
Page 35 and 36: 1435 48563. The removal of the duty
Page 37 and 38: 1437 48631. How can you make ends t
Page 39 and 40: 1439 people in the country ?-I thin
Page 41 and 42: 1441 the ld. is taken off, the mine
Page 43 and 44: 1443 48793. Is it a success ?-It wa
Page 45 and 46: 1445 48854. No, all the evidence we
Page 47 and 48: c 1447 are sold at 10d., that would
Page 49 and 50: 1449 duty th11t is upon fhinnels-is
Page 51 and 52: 1451 49028. But also the value?-Yes
Page 53 and 54: 1453 49088. Have you any reason to
Page 55 and 56: 1455 when we commenced as nmnufactu
Page 57 and 58: 1457 49236. Has there been any fall
Page 59 and 60: 1459 49302. Have you tried Queensla
Page 61 and 62: 1461 49367. I understand that you s
Page 63 and 64: 1463 taken the place of mill-stones
Page 65 and 66: 1465 49494. Do you think you could
Page 67 and 68:
1467 4·9558. Youwoufd not be dispo
Page 69 and 70:
1469 49629. Where do you get your r
Page 71 and 72:
1471 49704. Approve of what ?-You t
Page 73 and 74:
1473 49786. Oats have not yet reach
Page 75 and 76:
1475 49854. Will you give us a case
Page 77 and 78:
1417 49922. What pTopoTtion does th
Page 79 and 80:
1479 49981. You think they should p
Page 81 and 82:
1481 John Rigby Non·is sworn and e
Page 83 and 84:
1483 50i 17. Are yon in the habit o
Page 85 and 86:
1485 50183. By JYir. Longmore.-Do y
Page 87 and 88:
-14:8:7 50238. By 11£1·. Longmore
Page 89 and 90:
1489 .'i0314. Do you export to Sydn
Page 91 and 92:
1491 Henry Berry sworn and examinet
Page 93 and 94:
]493 50429. That being the case, an
Page 95 and 96:
1495 50498. In what way ?-Something
Page 97 and 98:
1497 50578. What woulL1 you do for
Page 99 and 100:
1499 The Cftairrnan.-Quitc right. 5
Page 101 and 102:
1501 50689. Are you opposed to the
Page 103 and 104:
1503 50755. Thn.t leaves you 836 ac
Page 105 and 106:
1505 50807. Is that what you want t
Page 107 and 108:
1507 50881. At the present price of
Page 109:
1509 {)0950. Where were you living
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Minutes of Evidence p.1401-1509 - Parliament of Victoria

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