"DOUBLE TAXATION."
A CHINESE PETITION. CLAIM JjOR REFUND. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. An allegation that they have paid double the amount of taxation they should have on merchandise imported from China' over a period of 15 years was mad© in a petition from Wah Lee and Co., of Auckland, Chinese merchants, in' a petition presented to. Parliament yesterday. The petitioners allege that the Collector of Customs at Auckland had. assessed the duty chargeable at double the proper amount from 1912 to 1927, and. through their ignorance of the law they had suffered considerable financial loss, running into some thousands of pounds. The mistake -was discovered in July, 1927, but when representations were made to the Customs Department a refund was made only for the period from July, 1926, to July, 1927.
Legally, the petitioners were only allowed to claim in respect of three years, and they accordingly asked that Parliament should grant them a refund of the payments made during the two years prior to July, 1926.  Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 242, 12 October 1932, Page 8