Star. — London, England, 1822-08-09 00:00:00

AI, P' i 1 ,' M ~ g PUBLIC RI: VENUE.. It will be recollected that Commissioners were ap pointed, pursuant to an Address of the house of Com mons, " to inquire into the Collection and Manage ment of the Public Revenue arising in Ireland, and into certain departments of the Public Revenue arising in Great Britain." The Commissioners were Mr. T. - WALLACE, NIA'. Mr. T. F. Lewis, M.P. and Messrs. J. C. I lEitatas, W. J. LUS:IINGTON, illti H. BERENS; and salaries of £l,OOO each were granted to them.—. Mr.:Want-ace declined his salary. After the last Ses sion of Parliament the Cinnotissioners prosecuted ce their inquiry in perlecwA t hem at the " Offiof Inquiry," it: Catintlm-row,Westrnitister, and madeße ports to both ( louses of Parliament thel.Sth June last. That presented to the l iause of Lords is just printed, but without the Appendix,which refers to upwards of 150 important public and official documents. The Report before the House of Conlin:ins wi ll not be ready tor some time, as the Appendix and Report will be printed together. T he Repoit is one of great interest, and occupies 30 folio pages. The great ob• ject to be attained is the assimilation of the mode of charging, managing,ancl collecting thelievenue arising in Ireland to that of England. In the way of accom-1 plishing such a desirable purpose, as its attainment would be productive of great savings in the collection, and promote "the commercial and manufacturing. interests of the two countries," there are three difficul ties which will be found to be of great weight, espe cially the tit st and second. To adopt the laaguage of the Report, they may be thus generally described — First, a permanent uniformity in the collection of the Revenues of G reatlritain and Ireland,enforced by "one undivided a uthority,"which would requirt "a very ma terial alteration in the constitution of the Boards," &c. Secondly, " a general simplification of the existing regulations, as well as a repeal of many of the du ties ;" and, thirdly, the abolition of various of thetlu ties imposed by the Act of Union, mostly termed the " Union Duties." We shall now proceed to make sonic extracts. The Commissioners begin with pre mising, that-- " In a pi eliminany Report, we stated to your Lord ships that our earliest attention had been directed to the subject pointed out in the Act by which we are constituted, as the primary object of our appoint ment, the assimilation of the mode of charging, managing, and collecting the Revenue arising in Ire land to the mode which is practised in Great Britain:, " We at the same time informed your Lordships, that we had been engaged in the prosecution of an inquiry concerning the Duties and Regulations which affect the commercial intercourse between the two countries; and which afford occupation to so very large a portion of the establishment of the Customs in Ireland, that any new arrangement of that De partment must - greatly depend upon the footing on which those Duties and Regulations may hereafter be establishc- 1 .. In pursuing this inquiry, we kept in view that part of our instructions in which the Mo d tication of Duties is specifically mentioned as one of the modes by which the assimilation of the Re venues, or any improvement in the collection of them, may be effected, and upon which we are, therefore, to offer our observations and suggestions, through your Lordships, to his Majesty and to Parliament. " Our proceedings for ascertaining in what man nzr and by what changes the first-mentioned and principal object to which w e have adverted might best be attained, have led us to a full conviction that no new regulations could have the . effect of creating a complete and permanent uniformity in the collection of the Revenues of Great Britain and Irelan.f, unless enforced, in their practical execution, by one undivided authority. It has, therefore, appeared to us, that the intention of Par liament in t: ;is respect could not be otherwise fulfilled than by a very material alteration in the constitution of the Boards under which the several branches of the Revenue are at present administered. " With respect to the intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland, we have been equally convinced that changes scarcely less extensive and important are in the highest degree desirable; and that a gene ral simplification of the existing regulations, as well as a repeal of many of the duties, are required—not snore by a due regard to the economy of the public service, than by a just consideration of the commer cial and manufacturing interests of the two countries. We have now, therefore, to propose those general measures which appear to us to be the best calculated for effecting these important purposes. It is almost unneccs-arc to observe, that all other improvements in the collec:ion of the Revenue in Ireland, and all reductions in the componcnt +arts of the establish ments maintained for secur:ng ir, must depend greatly upon the degree in which these suggestions, which embrace so large :t change in the constitution of the whole, may be adopted. They will be comprised under the following heads: " I. The incorporation of the British and Irish establishments for the collection of the public income, in such a manner as to place each description of Revenue throughout the United King dom under one practical management, subject to the paramount controul of your Lordships. 11. The removal of the obstructions to the commerce be tween Great Britain and Ireland, arising out of the system of duties and drawbacks to which it is now subjected, by such re gulations as may assimilate the commercial intercourse between the two islards to the communications between the several ports of Great Britain, and at the same time afford the means of ef fecting a considerable reduction in the Revenue establishments of Ireland. " II I. The abolition of such of the Duties imposed by the Act of Union on the importation of the produce or manufac tures of one country into the other, as apply to articles which either are not manufactured, or only to a trifling extent, in Ire land ; and the termination of the remainder at earlier periods than those which are prescribed by the existing law." The Commissioners then make the following gene ral remarks:—" Such being the nature and magni .tude of the art argements which we ate induced to propose, we trust it will be superfluous to state that we have not embraced the determination of submit ting to his Majesty and to Parliament the measures by which these important changes may be accom plished, without the most mature and anxious consi deration of their manitOld bearings and extensive ' consequent:es. For, although it requires but a super ficial view of the Revenue and Commerce of Ireland, in their present state, tri Oercerviif that nothing short of very general alterations, both of system and prat ticei could effect the purpose of assimilating the for mer to that - of Great Britain, and of regulating the latter so as to establish that unrestricted interchange of the products of British and Irish industry' which was justly contemplated as one of the greatest benefits • t WAW: . • in criastruction time, these anomalies to be derived front the Union ; tion develop es also the many ob nd in the execution of the law appear likely, if not yetiecationeans rwehrlicnhspwoc- at this very naturally be opposed to such general changes; some 'r . emedie i d, b to lead to the entire subversion of one con of which must come impo rt nflict with existing interests ' siderab e ranch of manufacture-in Great Britain.-- ; l of great weight and ipoance ; whilst otters have To that case we shall have occasion to aditert in i to encounter the obstacles, never to be disregarded, of . another part of the present Report; arid the irn i o ni re fo ci !! deeply-rooted prejudices and national feelings ; and i developement of the general obstructions an d pe all of them are exposed to such difficulties of erects- merits proceeding from 'this source will belong to the tion as require that they should not be attempted, ! Report upon the Counservailing Duties, which we ate. except with the greatest caution, and after the most about to submit to your Lords in hips matters of high na . mature deliberation. " These are great " It was, therefore, not before we had carefully tional importance, and it is difficult to determine whe weighed and examined these obstacles and impedi- ther they operate -most injuriously upon the interests merits, and communicated with the official persons of the Revenue or the transactions of the subject. In whom we deemed the most competent to appreciate reference to each, a speedy and efficacious remedy is. both the advantages and the objections attending the equally called for; as it is not more essential that the measures which suggested themselves to us, that we taxes should, by a vigilant, economical, and impartial resolved to submit them to your Lordships. In the collection, be made alike productive in every part of progress of our inqiiiry, each step has, however, the United Kingdom, according to the provisions of tended to diminish our apprehensions of the difficul- the law, than that they should be so levied as to press ties opposed to these comprehensive arrangements, with the imallest degree of vexation and severity whilst our conviction has been strengthened, that they upon individuals, which can be made consistent with afford the only means of producing a complete and the secure payment of so large a contribution to the , permanent uniformity in the collection of the Reve- exigencies of the country. . . nue, and of removing the embarrassments at present " Although these coosidcrations, t ne g r ou t onui of s the occasioned to the commercial interests of Great Bri- evils of a divided aethotity, would alosh uf . - tain and Ireland. We now, therefore, lay them be- ficient motives for the consolid.ttion which we.recom fore your Lordships, with a thorough persuasion that mend, as the only means of effecting the assimilation every attempt to remedy the inconveniences and de- of practice contemplated in the Act by which we are fects of the existing system upon a less extended prin- , appointed, other reasons for adopting' t hat course, ciple, or to build a netv one upon a less substantial " scarcely less po , ..;•etful, have suggested themselves, foundation, must terminate in disappointment, and and other defects will be fonnd, for which it will at produce the usual effect of mere palliatives—that of ford the best, if not the only remedy. These exist in ultimately increasing both the necessity and the clif- the actual state of the Irish R.evenue Departments, ficulty of a more complete reformation." which is such as to render a fundamental reformation In mentioning the first of the abovementioned ge- of them a measure, in our judgment, indiTensable. neral heads, the Commissioners exhibit the grounds «In offering this opinion we advert at present more upon which they recommend the incorporation of the particularly to the depat tments of the Customs and British and Irish Revenue Establishments, and the Excise, to which our inqui:ies, while in Ireland, were mode in which they conceive that it !bay be best ef- chiefly directed, and to which our recommendation in footed with respect to the. Customs and Excise.— this Report will therefore be confined. They proceed—" If the Union of Great Britain and ig The voluminous mass of documents which form llreland could have been completed at once in all the Appendix to this Report will be found chiefly its parts, the same Act by which the Legislatures of composed of the evidence obtained through an in the two kingdoms were united, would probably have quiry which preceded ours, and also by ourselves, re provided, as in the case of Scotland, for a similar lating to these two departments ; they will spew, in union of their respective Revenues. But it was not minute detail, the nature and extent of the establish deemed consistent with a due regard to the finan• rnents -of each of them in 1819, the retrenchments cial and commercial relations of the two coon- adopted between that period and the year 1821', and tries, to carry that great measure to so full an extent. the present state of them according to the latest returns The state of Ireland rendered an interval of some which have been made to us. They will also be years necessary before that part of the United King- found to contain all the observations of the Commis dom could be justly required to contribute to the sioners of the Customs in Ireland, u p on the various common expenditure at the same rates, or by tie alterations suggested in consequence of the proceed same modes of taxation as Great Britain, and also be- ings to which we have adverted, that Board having fore the free interchange of all manufactures could met the inquiry with the manifestation of a ready dis be permitted, without detriment to existing interests position to second the wishes of the Government. — of great importance on both sides. Under these cir- The Board of Excise, on the contrary, appear to have cumstauces, the Treasuries of the two countries, al- submitted to it with much difficulty and reluctance. though under the controul of the same Government, " After carefully weighing the whole of the infor continued distinct Authorities; and the several de- mation derived from these sources, and from our im partments subordinate to them, for the collection of mediate examination of many persons competent to the Revenue, continued to be distinct likewise. But afford the best information concerning these two when, by the Act of 1816, the Treasuries had been great branches of the Irish Revenue, we are con united, and the Revenues were sq consolidated as to strained to .declare, with respect to the Customs, that constitute only one .fund for the common expendi- notwithstanding the improvementS recently made in ture of the United Kingdom, all necessity for a se- that department, it is still managed with much less parate administration of those Revenues in Ireland economy and efficiency than the same Revenue in was removed ; and if it should now appear that no England ; and with respect to the Excise, that it is in object, either of economy or security, can he promo- so defective a state of management. organization, and ted by the continuance of distinct establishments fcr discipline, as to render hopeless any attempt at per that purpose, it would seem, in every other view of manent improvement, except through the rnediuni of the subject, to be most desirable that each branch of a general change. the Revenue of the United Kingdom should hence- 6 6 The defects to which we allude may be classed under the general heads of 1. Unnecessary expense of Establ;shment ; 2. Imperfect collection of the Revenue; and 3. Delays and difficulties imposed upon Trade. " Intances under all these heads, both in the C 1.1 5, toms and in the Excise, might be adduced in great numbers from the information which we had our selves an opportunity of collecting. But such ex amples, however st-iking, would be far less conclu sive than the general testimony of the Public Officers holding high situations in the Revenue departments of England, who assisted the Government of Ireland in 1819 in prosecuting the inquiry to which we have alluded, and which was undertaken with a view to extensive measures of reduction and improvement. " Persons better qualified in all respects for such a service could not have been selected ; and it is an important advantage to us in the performance of the duty which we have now to discharge, that in form ing our more general views on the subject of the Irish Revenue, we are enabled to avail ourselves of the minute inquiries into its details which those Gen tlemen, from their practical knowle.ige, were so pecu liarly competent to pursue. " Their proceedings were conducted under the im mediate direction of the late Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, and their Reports upon the two de partments now under our consideration, together with the documents by which they are supported, exhibit the zeal and industry with which their researches were carried on, and contain abundant matter to war rant the opinions which they have strongly expressed respecting the state of the Irish establishments. " There could hardly, indeed, be a more Striking and convincing proof of the imperfect condition of these establishments, than the very result and ter mination of that inquiry. After all the information Which it produced,. and all the suggestions it gave rise to for the improvement of the Revenue depart ments in Ireland, the Goiternmeat found so much re maining to be done, that greater changes appeared to be necessary, and a further investigation was deemed indispensable. " The prosecution of that investigation has been committed •to us, and we should ill discharge the duty thereby imposed upon us, if we hesitated to state our own clear and conscientious conviction of the necessity of those more extensive changes, parti— cularly in the two great branches of the Irish Re venue now'under our c6nsideration; the constitution and composition of which must undefgo a complete alteration before the management of those depart ments can be placed upon such a footing as the inte rests of the Revenue and the accommodation of the Public imperatively require. " Under the head of Expense, the wide difference between the rates of management in similar depart ' menu of Great Britain and Ireland, affords a strung presumption at least of improvidence in the manage ment of the . latter. Upon a •compirison of the . Re venues received, and the expenses of managing them forth be united under one management. " Of the superior advantages of unity of direction and consequent uniformity of practice, when con trasted with the existing diversities both of authot ity and regulation in the management of these Revenues, whether the comparison be made with reference to an efficacious collection, or to the convenience of the various classes of the community by whom they are contributed, there can exist, we apprehend, no rea -1 sonable doubt. In the course of our investiga-. Lion, we have had ample opportunities of being made acquainted with the vexations and embarrass ments occasioned by the different methods of ma naging the Revenue in the several parts of the United Kingdom. At the limits of each separate authority, the freedom of commercial intercourse is embarrassed and checked, not only by the repeated and unavoidable interference of Revenue Officers, but by diversities ir. the methods of classing and denomi nating the various articles subject to duty ; by differ ences in the principles on which that duty is charged and levied ; by variations in the construction of the same laws ; and above all, by the different degrees of strictness and impartiality with which the public in come is collected in Great Britain and Ireland respec tively. These inequalities and discordances, which are the necessary consequences of divided Authorities, operate to the discouragement of that colmniercial enterprize and industry which are among the main springs of national welfare, and constitute the most fertile sources of the public income. " Of these various consequences of a two-fold sys tem of Revenue in the same kingdom, the unequal application of the law is perhaps the most prejudicial to commercial enterprize. In its effects it has all the evils of partial and ill-adjusted taxation, beating wish unequal pressure upon members of the same commu nity, and that, too, in a degree much more injurious than if directly arising from the law itself; because, by its uncertainty, it defies calculation, and counter acts, among those engaged in trade, all the principles of fair competition. " With respect to the intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland, it has the effect of defeating the purpose for which the countervailing duties were im posed. Those duties being fixed with reference to the nominal and legal rates of taxation, upon all articles not taxed alike for consumption in the two countries, were intended to afford the means of mutually inter changing them on terms of equal advantage. Bui it occurs too frequently in the collection of the internal duties in Ireland, that those which are imposed by Parliament are not those which are actually levied, and the countervailing duties arc thereby rendered inadequate to their object. " In some branches of the Cross Channel Com merce, the spirit of enterpt ize has been greatly repres sed by these irregularities and difficulties ; the Ma nufacturer and trader have, in many instances, been driVen into courses which, unshackled .and at liberty, they would never have pursued ; the - importation of some articles has been necessarily abandoned ; and • . . . . . in England, Scotland,. and Ireland respectively, is thi last four years, the result_hras CoilOws; CUS 4 TOMS.—AVERAGI OP FOUR TEARS. • ./ Orem Receipt --• £11,992,61115 • o Rannairtt, Management -. - - 9/9,510 0 • Rate per Cent. - - - II 4IL / Gross Receipt - - - - XMAS* 0 o SCOTLAND, Management • - • - 141,510 0 o . Rate per Cent. - . - 17 . 11 1 . ) Gross Receipt - - - .C 2,094,257 0 0 • 'LELAND, . Management - - . assoss 0 • Rate per Cent. - . - 18 9 1. EXCISR.—AVELLAGE OF FOUR YEARS. / Gross Receipt - - - £ 24 ,5 7 5,463 0 • im Excla, Management -- - . 655, 9 741 0 • • • Rate per-Cent. - - .. . 3 9 N / Gross Receipt - - - Z 2,240,8115 0 0 SCOTLAND,' Management - - - - 162,744 o I Rate per Cent. - - • , 7 S a iGross Receipt - - - • £2,032,324 0 0 Isixtrim, Management - 254,415 0 • Rate per Cent. --- - • 12 lb a " It must, however, be admitted, that the inference which' natutally might be drawn from this compari, son is by no means conclusive. A portion of the higher rate of management in Ireland is fairly to be justified by the :expense which a separate establish. ment for managing a small part only of the general Revenue of the kingdom unavoidably creates, and a portion also by local peculiarities, which under any management would render the comparative cost of collection greater in Ireland than in England. But after making ample allowance for these circam stances, there still remains a considerable difference which cannot satisfactorily be accounted for. The comparison with Scotland . is also unfavourable to Ireland ; although the Revenue of the Customs in Scotland is much smaller, the ports of that country more numerous, and the facility of contraband traffic greater, the tate of management is nearly the same; while in the Exci.e, the gross receipts of which in the two countries are nearly equal, The rate of manage ment in Ireland is strikingly higher. 64 The manner in which these differences, indica- tive of unnecessary expenditure, have arisen, is in a great measure explained by the Reports upon those branches of the Revenue which %sere produced bT the inquiry we have alluded to. In that of Mr. Rich mond, upon the Customs, reductions were suggested, upon grounds more satisfactorily explained. to the extent of £77,000 in the yearly charge cl -.1 , .at de partment ; while Colonel Doyle and Mr. Carr p• e ! posed diminutions amounting to £43,540, in the an nual expenditure of that of the Excise. " That retrenchments to such an extent, embracing in the first department more than one-fifth of the an nual expense of management, and in the latter mo:e than one-seventh (according to the charge of the latest year then under consideration), should have appeared almost upon the very first view to be par ticable, consistently with the due 'discharge of the public service, "is of itself decisive evidence of son.e great defect either in the system under which the excessive expenditure had arisen, or in the adinieis tration of it. We are inclined principally to ascribe it to the system, and to that tendency to expensive. ness and ostentation which is always to be rOund is independent local establishments, in a degree very disproportionate to their real importance. " In the Customs in Ireland, the Board itself and the office of the Secretary connected with it, were found to be upon a scale too nearly appreaoing in the number of the persons borne upon the eaa'elish merit to the same offices in London. These were seven Commissioners (two of whom were Chairmen', two SeCretaries, and twenty-oae clerks, in Dublin ; while in London, for a revenue of six-fold the extent, and fcr a weight of business which bears no compa rison with that of Ireland, tl'cte are nine Commis sioners, one Secretary, and twenty-six clerks. " In the contingent expenses, also, such charges were discovered as indicated habits of great extrava gance, and or a very loose controui. Several instances are afforded in Mr. Richmond's observations under that head ; among others, lie states, that for tLe house of the Surveyor at Malailide, an out-station within the Fort of Dublin, where there is en boat establishment, and where the officer's duty is CC7 tilled to the discharge of , a few vessels laden with coals, salt, and potatoes, the charges incurred for repairs in the last year amounted to £333. 19s. including £l7- 17s. 6,!. for a chimney-piece.' Upon which he very justly remarks, Under such a system no limit can assigned to the amount of contingent expelees: " In the same paper, he repeatedly points nut tl:e circumstance, that in the outports the salaries of the officers in Ireland are generally higher than the sala ries of the officers of the same class in England ;' and in another place he intimates, that they ate one-third higher to officers who receive above 1001. rer annum, and between one-fourth and one-sixth higher to offi cers whose salaries are less than 1001.' In his evidence before its, he adverts to other examples of excessive expense. In the Excise, the same profusion was rani festaind formed a subject of observation in the Repo:: of Colonel Doyle and Mr. Carr. They have also ad verted strongly to it in their evidence before tts, re marking upon the striking disproportion beta een tie offices of collection in Dublin and London. In the former place there are two Collectors at 1,200/. a year each, where the united collection amounts to about 700,0001. annually; while in the latter there is bet one Collector, whose salary is 6001. a year, anti who receives duties which amounted in the year 16'20 to 7,2•16,9071. It is true that the Receiver-Genet al in London performs certain duties which ate not dis charged by that officer in Dublin, and %%hien 1...1 upon the Collectors there ; but that circumstance is by no means sufficient to justify the difference. It to be observed also, that there is no Collector of 1:s -in England who is paid at n higher rate than 6(X)!. a year, and only one out of London whew s:.- lary is of that amount, viz. the Collector or Liver pool, who receives and .accounts for duties exceeditig in net produce the whole of the Excise Revenues of ' Ireland.—We have adverted in this manner, alj upon these authorities, to the comparative expense of ntanaL:;en:ent'in Ireland and England, as it was found upon the inquiry in 1819, because it exhibits tlatt which we conceive can only be corrected by a change in the constitution of the departments. Particular in stances of extravagance pray indeed be rernedieJs and general directions may be issued to forbid their recur' cnce (as upon these Reports has already in fact been done); but such remedies have been applied be fore, and such-orders for future regulation have 41 ° frequently been Issued lit vain. . I.,QPol'sd . Pript d and published by Livim huts, yq►rtr Tcmpk-6M.