Judgement

Appeal (No. 114 of 1936) from a decree of the High Court in its appellate jurisdiction (October 4, 1935), affirming, with a minor variation, a decree of the High Court in its original civil jurisdiction (April 5, 1935).

The question for determination in this appeal was whether in assessing to customs duty under the Indian Sea Customs Act, 1878, a number of Ford motor vehicles consigned from Canada to the appellants, the Ford Motor Company of India, Ld., the wholesale price for such vehicles was ascertainable so that the duty could be assessed under cl. (a) of s. 30 of the Act of 1878, or whether the vehicles were assessable under cl. (b) of s. 30 upon the cost at which they could be landed in Bombay —namely, the invoice price, plus freight and insurance. Delivery of the vehicles was given by the appellants "free" on rail to authorized distributors who paid to the appellants the price they (the distributors) received from the public less a discount of 20 per cent. The appellants were assessed to customs duty by the Collector of Customs on the view that cl. (a) of s. 30 of the Act of 1878 applied, and that the price charged by the appellants to the distributors was a wholes