The Express.
London, England, 1867-07-10 00:00:00

!liFFAInfTA-

TRIO Itertria. JAC4 OYAiiiijiTOß, THE RACE COUR.9K.
AND THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURY.-11r. 1.. Ituekat.,ue
31r. and Mts. %Pilaff's the (Rainplon Sliders of England —Awl
THE LUCKY HOME SHOE.

HIGH WATT.' AT LONDON BRIOGIL
_ .

Tun DAII--iioroing. Ah.
TO-NOlLlOW—llaruing, uh. ma. 11k.

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10.

Tee propriety of consolidating tho outlying
branches of the Inland Revenue Department has
been frequently urged by financial reformers, and
has, in theory, been sanctioned by the House. The
proceedings before Mr. HORSVALL'S Committee,
and the Bill introduced subsequently by Mr.
GLADSTONE, tended in the same direction ; and
though little practical result has yet been attained,
signs are not wanting of a renewed agitation by
which the public are likely to profit. It is as
new to hear of our civil servants appointing dele-
gates to proclaim the shortcomings of their own
department to Parliament as it is startling to learn
that a meeting of legislators and officials has been
held in the famous tea-room, at which such charges
as malversation of the public funds, corrupt extra-
vagance, and mismanagement, were declared
proven with entire unanimity. The complaint
was the old-established one, of too many hands
for the same work; bat whereas the stone hitherto
thrown has been from the outer world, and by
men for whom it was difficult if not impossible to
prove their case minutely, the people complaining
now are the alleged culprits themselves ; and it is
for taxpayers, and for those who impose taxes, to
profit by the Queen's evidence proffered them.
The officers of Excise declare themselves able and
willing to perform more work, and call for a
searching inquiry into the arrangements of their
department. It would be cruel to ask whether a
desire for increased salaries had any share in
promoting this discovery. It is sufficient to take
the confession as it stands, and to note that the
leaders of the movement expressly limit their
wishes to the appointment of a Royal Commission.
This laudable anxiety for the public interest should
be gratified, and we have little doubt that if the
questions were as skilful and pertinent, and the
witnesses as candid, as has been the case elsewhere,
the revelations would be as suggestive, though in
a widely different fashion, as those now startling
the world.

When the three branches of Excise, Stamps,
and Taxes were nominally united under the late
Mr. JOHN WOOD, it was with the distinct under-
standing that the fusion then commenced
should be consistently carried out. That
able public servant enjoyed, if we mistake
not, a considerable annuity in addition to the
salary of his post, in consideration of the extra
labour involved in the amalgamation. Since his
death rumours have been abroad, and questions
and comments have from time to time come before
the public, the tendency of which has been to
show, nut merely that the organization of this
great department is incomplete, and the officials
dissatisfied, but that the public are suffering loss.
Matters have now assumed a proportion which
may be easily used to the advantage of the tax-
payer ; and it is but natural to hope that the
opportunity will be seized, and authoritative in-
formation given on the chief points raised. The
present system of assessment and collection
is said to put some 70,0001. per annum
into the pockets of indolent sineemists,
who browbeat the Treasury into paying
them a further sum of hush-money by
the threat of using their political influence
nainst the first government refusing to buy them
off. The clerks to the local commissioners of taxes
throughout the country are, if their official assail-
ants are to be believed, the long-shore men of their
several districts, and to their interested opposition
the defeat of Mr. Gtmerroxz's proposals for hand-
ing over the collection of taxes from parochial
functionaries to responsible officials was due. Nor
is this the worst. We learn from the chairman of
the conference of Excise delegates, recently held
at Exeter-ball, that "the poundage paid to these
" clerks is calculated upon the amount of their
" original assessment, and not upon tho sum
" actually awarded and determined by the Court
" of Appeal as equitable, so that the clerks have
"an absolute pecuniary interest in encouraging
"over-charges and causing litigation." At the
same conference the published opinions of the pre-
sent and late Chairman of the Board of Inland
Revenue were quoted to prove the crying necessity
of change. The first describes the system of which
he is the responsible chief as " most objection-
"able," and quotes one item of 17,0001. as
annually wasted in needless travelling expenses.
The second informs us that " great frauds result
" from the present system," and significantly
adds, " there is great delay in getting in the
" money." So many secretaries, ex-secretaries,
surveyors, collectors, and other leading officials
are quoted as of the same opinion, that we are
driven to Mk why some reasonable scheme of re-
form has not been insisted on earYer, If half of
what we are told now be true, the department
divided against itself furnishes another proof of
the hollowness of ministerial compliments, and is
an additional testimony to the laxity with which
the public is served. After making due allowance