Manufacture versus construction: pile-making activity was treated as industrial manufacturing, supporting industrial company status.

A company engaged in constructing concrete cast-in-situ bored piles and manufacturing the constituent parts was treated as an industrial company because the activity was characterised as manufacture of articles or things, not mere building construction. The distinction turned on the factual nature of the business: preparing piles and their individual components was accepted as manufacturing activity, while authority dealing with ordinary building construction was held inapplicable. The precedent recognising pile construction as manufacturing was applied, and the assessee was held entitled to industrial company status for the relevant finance years.

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Issues: Whether a company engaged in constructing concrete cast-in-situ bored piles and manufacturing the constituent parts thereof could be treated as an industrial company for the relevant finance years.

Analysis: The business carried on was not construction of buildings but preparation of concrete piles and manufacture of the various individual constituents forming the completed structure. On the facts, this activity was treated as involving manufacture of articles or things. The reliance on the precedent relating to building construction was held to be inapposite, while the precedent recognising pile construction activity as manufacturing was accepted as applicable.

Conclusion: The assessee was held entitled to be treated as an industrial company.

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