The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-06-16
PROFITABLE CIGAR DEAL|A LITTLE BACK HISTORY /
A CHINESE FIRM MAKES A GOOD
HAUL.
Internal Revenue Officers Will Allow
Six Months for Sale of Stocks on
Hand-Inventories Called For.

The internal revenue officers are call
ing upon local merchants for complete
inventories of the stock they had on
hand on June IA of goods taxable un-
der internal revenue laws. There Is one
Chinese firm i'm the city that has 321. 900
Manila cigars in stock and about $1,000
other cigars. OF these 100000 arrived
on the last steamer. With the present
prospects of a rise i'm the local rates this
stock promises tC yield profit of some
thing like $500, which is not a bad re-
suit of a bit of enterprise in getting
goods here in time. This is the largest
stock held here. Recently orders were
sent to Manila for four or five million
cigars, but the orders could not be fill
ed
The men who came here from the San
Francisco internal revenue district
have been investigating the condition
of local stocks, with a view to making
plans for the enforcement of the laws.
Special Agent Thomas says that he
does not think there as many as a mil
lion cigars in on the island. Within a
month cigars will be on sale in Homo
lulu with stamps showing the payment
of the Internal reVenCe tax, according
to this estimate, and the stocks of Ma
nilas and others that were here before
internal revenue laws went into effect
will be entirely exhausted before six
months are over.
No seizures of goods are to be made
at present, though under the ordinary
rules of the country it would be the
duty of the revenue officers to per-
emptorily seize all the cigars and to-
bacco they find and other dutiable
goods they find being sold without the
tax stamp. Six months will probably
be allowed for the entire selling out
of stocks on hand, and after that any
one selling stuff on which the duty has
not been paid will have to prove that he
had the stuff on hand on June IA of
this year, or else suffer the ordinary
enforcement of the law. The time may
possibly be extended to a year, If the
officers think the conditions warrant
such step.
1t was the original plan of the inter-
nal revenue department to at once
seize unstamped dutiable goods all over
the islands, in accordance with the in
ternal revenue laws, and then to re-
lease the goods as the owners proved
their rights in the matter. 1t was de-
cided that this method would occasion
so much troublefand cause so much de-
lay for which owners might claim dam
ages that the scheme was abandoned
and it was decided to make no imme-
diate interference with business.
The inventories of dutiable goods viii
be the basis OF future action, and mer-
chants are advised to keep duplicates
of what they give to the internal reve-
nue. department. For six months OF
more there will be complete immunity
in certain lines from prosecutions foI
selling without stamps. Then there will
be some INSPECTIONS and as it is cal
culated that all the stocks in town must
be sold out in much less than six
months, seizures may follow. Under the
law the mere fact that such goods as
cigars are without the stamp is priIna
facie evidence that they are being sole
in violation of the law, and sufficient
basis for legal proceedings against the
owner.
The Manila cigar is going to be q
thing of the past in Hawaii before
many months, in the opinion of those
who ought to know. 1t will cost about
ten dollars a thousand, in various
kinds of duties, to get them on sale
here, and on this basis they canno;
compete with the Key West product
except among the wealthy ones who
have become welded to them and can.
not acquire the taste for the other kind
The rise in prices has already begun
and the luxury of smoking, except fol
the man who smokes a pipe, will dou-
BILE in cost in a short time.