Whitton v Falkiner [1915] HCA 38

Appl Times —_— Fol Tiynes_

Consutamas — Conzuanis WA ster for

PyLidwe Py tide ud torof — Collector of. ComnPe rey

Custos Cerone afen GRR VIS filer 118 HIGH COURT [1915.

{HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA. }

WHITTON (CotLEcToR oF CUSTOMS FOR } ere VicToRIA) DEFENDANT, AND FALKINER . F 3 F 3 : 5 RESPONDENT. PLAINTIFF,

ON APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF

VICTORIA.

H.C. or A, Qustoms Duties —Tarijf —Classification of goods —Trade usage —Hvidence— 1915. "Chassis of motor cars lorries and waggons"—Customs Tariff 1908-1911 (No. a) 7 of 1908—No. 19 of 1911), Schedule A, Items 161, 380.

Mezzourne,

ee Held, by Isaacs, Higgins, Gavan Duffy and Rich JJ. (Grifith C.J. dissent- 18; June 1i, ing), that the words "motor cars lorries and waggons" in Item $80 (2) of Schedule A of the Customs Tariff 1908-1911 do not include all kinds of motor

Geely vehicles, but mean three different species of motor vehicles. Higgins, a, The plaintiff imported several chassis of vehicles into the Commonwealth.

'The vehicles for which the chassis were adapted were intended for use as a road train, For that purpose each chassis carried an electro-motor which, when supplied with electricity, would move the particular vehicle. One of the chassis also carried a petrol engine and machinery w

h would generate sufficient electricity to supply all the electro-motors, and on that chassis were the means of steering the other vehicles.

Held, by Isaacs, Higgins, Gavan Duffy and Rich JJ. (Grifith C.J, dissent- ing), that none of the chassis was a chassis of a motor car, lorry or waggon

within the meaning of Item 380 (z) of Schedule A of the above-mentioned Act.

Where an article of a kind which has never before been imported into Australia is imported, evidence as to what that article would be called in the trade is not admissible for the purpose of establishing a name by trade usage, and so bringing the article within a particular item of such Schedule.