It _was discovered, however, that for the ordinary man the process of decerning privileged is both long and expensive. The cost was stated factory owners to be between $00 and $400, a difficult matter for some. small "concerns. The usual time taken to accomplish registration Jig six months: sometimes it extends beyond a year. It is essential to remain the services of a lawyer. Government officials have to inspect the factory and the whole intricate maze seemingly inseparable from" governmental operation has to be traversed. There proved no possibility of ex-editing the process and the products Of unprivileged factories © therefore Which were taken on the selling {our hed {0 stand in competition with others mot so burdened. Needless to say sales were few and far between.
On. the face of it, however. it seemed that the goods of privileged factories would be able to compete with similar products elsewhere manufactured. Low wage costs ought -eount for something. It was assumed. that if a factory was "privileged" this indeed was so. advance none of the practical difficulties herein enumerated could be sensed. No prior information on the pitfalls later experienced could be dblained from governmental or trade Crganisatios, which would tend the unsuspecting albeit carefully enquir~ Ing trader to beware ut their existence.
Value of "Privilege"
Actual experience showed afier the "goods had been sold at a price which did not take into account the export tax, a "privileged" factory was privileged in respect only, not of its whole range of manufactures, Present and possible, but only of a certain fixed range of products, enumerated at the time of applica: tion "for registration or subsequently applied for. If factory owners were aware of this condition they did not, fany of the 84 of them, make it known the trader. It may be taken for [granted that they did not know, but assumed, along with him, that they twere privileged in respect of the products of their factory. Tt was: found (after the sales had been made) that duly had to be paid on all other goods not registered. Schedules could only be altered once in three months.
Further it transpired that at the time of registration prices of listed articles should be stated, and that any variation from these prices. whether upward or downward, should be reported to the Customs authori ties who in turn would, at intervals, fof some three months, record them fon the list. It is obvious from the {trader's experience that this extrema= "cumbersome procedure was not understood, certainly not respected. by factory' owners, especially smaller ones. Indeed it represented an im= [possibly complicated undertaking for the authorities, It certainly took no account of the actualities of trade. 'With factories in keen competition with one another, prices vary with the market, with' the imposition of new import duties, with rate of ex: Jehange at the time of purchase imported raw materials, with the ize of an order, and 80° on.
"Privilege" and Bulk Export What was the result for the trader? When the time came for shipping goods sold it was found that it was necessary to pay duty on the price listed in the registration. For the most part this price was well below the actual selling pric jean be quoted. Good dozen in. the were actually sold at $15 per dozen in Hongkong. The trader has a reputation to keep. He will not be party to dual invoices. He has paid fand will pay duty on the full invoice: value. But he thinks that a system Jot regulations which can make every price change a subject of notification to the authorities is one which clutters up industry with intolerable red tape.
But why, it will be asked, is duty being paid at all om the foods privileged factories. Herein lay the second awakening. When the time to ship some of the orders came was found that the rule obtains that whereas bulk exports of the products of "privileged factories are exempt, should they be packed in the same container as those from unprivileged the whole case is then liable to duty. [Customs officers conduct a most meticulous examination of all goods foing out. If twelve cases of goods are going, two of them, for example may be chosen for examination, and the remaining ten of the bulk export will be permitted to pass. But if varied goods are in the same case, all are subject to close inspection and all, privileged oF not, are dutiable. It proved in practice, after investiga ton, not profitable to attempt despatch goods separately by parcel post, or in small units as freight, and uty was paid on all cases contain= ing privileged "goods "along with others
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.