ADUWA (previously Adowa), in the province of Tigre, northern Abyssinia, 145m. north-east of Gondar and 17m. east by north of Aksum, the ancient capital of Abyssinia. Aduwa, a hill-slope at an elevation of 6,5ooft., in a rich agricultural dis trict, is an important market centre. On a hill about 21m. north west of Aduwa are the ruins of Fremona, the headquarters of the Portuguese Jesuits who lived in Abyssinia during the 16th and 17th centuries. An Italian invading force was crushed near Aduwa on March 1, 1896. In Oct. 1935 the Italians evened the score by bombing and then capturing the town with the remnants of its near 5000 inhabitants. See ITALY : Hist.; ABYSSINIA: Hist.
The general practice in the United States is that duty is levied on the foreign export value, i.e., the actual cost at the place of purchase, or the home consumption value in the exporting coun try, whichever is the greater. It is usual to require at the port of entry the production of an invoice with full particulars of the place where, time when, and the person from whom the goods were purchased, and the actual cost of the goods and any charges on them. Such invoice has to be countersigned by the American consular officer for the district from which the goods are actually destined for America, i.e., place of consignment, not place of shipment. On arrival at the U.S. port of entry the invoice is sworn to by the importer. The definite establishment of the dutiable value is then decided upon by the appraisers at the port of entry, appeal lying to the customs court, formerly the board of general appraisers.
In the British overseas dominions ad valorem duties are usually assessed on the value of the goods in the home trade of the exporting country. In some countries, although nominally ad valorem duties are imposed by the tariff, in practice arbitrary unit values are fixed, either periodically as in the case of Egypt or permanently as in the case of Argentina; the prescribed ad va lorem duty is levied on these arbitrary valuations, thus in effect making the duties specific.
It has been argued that, theoretically, an ad valorem duty is preferable to a specific duty, inasmuch as it falls in proper pro portion alike on the high-priced and low-priced grades of a com modity, and no matter how the value of any article fluctuates the rate of taxation automatically adjusts itself to the new value. This adjustment has been of particular importance in countries, where the currency has been subject to violent fluctuations or where prices have been notably unstable. In practice, however, ad valorem duties may lead to great inequalities and are also difficult to assess equitably ; while the relative value of two corn modities may remain relatively unchanged under an ad valorem duty, yet owing to the difference in the cost of production, or through the different proportions of fixed and circulating capital employed in their manufacture, an ad valorem tax will be felt much more severely by one commodity than another, from the exporter's point of view. Again, there is always a difficulty in obtaining a true valuation of the exported goods, for values from their very nature are variable.
Ad valorem fees are imposed by some countries (mostly Latin American) on the consular certification of invoices, which are necessary for the clearance of goods through the customs on arrival at the port of destination. These range from 2% to 1 o%.
The term ad valorem is also used for British stamp duties. By the Stamp Act of 1891, certain classes of instruments, e.g., bills of exchange, conveyances or transfers, leases, mortgages, etc., must be stamped in England with the proper ad valorem duty, that is, the duty chargeable according to the value of the subject matter of the particular instrument or writing. (See STAMP DUTY ; CUSTOMS ; SAFEGUARDING OF INDUSTRY.)