The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY

THE BOARD OF CUSTOMS,

The Select Committee of till House of Commons-
have presented their report on the Board of Customs.
The Committee submit the following heads of re-
form, which they consider it advisable to adopt gt,n-
-rally, leaving some of the outports to be dealt with
C3pecially
" 1.7-CONSTITUTION OF THE BOARD OF CUSTOMS.

" The Board consists of a Chairman, Vice-chairman,
and six ordinary Commissioners, one of whom is by
Treasury minute to be reduced to the next vacancy. The
&aeries are respectively 2,0001., 1,700/, and 1,200/. per
annum, subject, undi.r the Superannuation Act, to a
deduction of five per cent., and they do not appear to be
more than a sufficient remuneration for the due dis-
charge of the duties of the respective offices. Some of
the Commissioners have been, prior to their appoint-
ment, in the service of the Crown. Without wishing
to limit the discretion of the Government in appointing,
on their responsibility, to offices of such importance,
your Committee would merely urge that such appoint-
ments ought to be made with a scrupulous regard to the
possession of the requisite qualifications of abaity and
experience, and not so much from political or personal
considerations as has hitherto been too often the case.
" Many of the witnesses have strongly urged the ad-
vantage which would result from sel73.eting some members
of the Board of Customs from the mercantile body, and
you Conimitteo are of opinion that the appointment of
at least one such Commissioner, provided he be otherwise
fully qualified, would tend to inspire confidence among
the mercantile community in the administration of the
department of Customs.
" It has been further suggested that the constitution
of the board would be improved by the introduction of
a superior practical officer. Tour Committee do not
question that among the superior officers of the Customs
some may be, as some have been, found qualified for the
higher dudes of Commissioner, and that to such men
the promotion might, from time to time, be benefi-
cially extended.
" Some witnesses have suggested that the Board of
Customs should have a more independent action than it
at present possesses, and that the law under which the
Commissioners are disqualified from sitting in the House
of Commons should be repealed, so that one Commis-
sioner should have a seat in Parliament.
"It is not for your Committee to express an opinion
as to this proposed alteration of the law; it involves po-
litical considerations of no small importance, not apply-
ing exclusively to the Board of Customs, and must there-
fore, in the judgment of your Committee, be left to the
decision of Parliament.
" The present Commissioners have ten to fifteen
weeks' holidays annually, which appear excessive. Your
Committee advise that a minute of the Treasury, dated
the 2d of March, 1849,-based on the recommendation of
the Commissioners of Inquiry in that year and in 1841,
enjoining them to visit the different docks and wharfs in
London where business was transacted, with a view of
judging foi themselves of the character of their officers,
and what rules and regulations should be issued, ought
to be carried out, although temporarily suspended during
the recent controversy with the docks. Complaints have
been made to your Committee of the inaccessibility of
the Commissioners. This is denied by them, and it ap-
pears desirable that the denial should become generally
known, so as to enable the public in future to profit by
the facility of seeing the board.
" 2.-APPOINTMENT AND PROMOTION OF OFFICERS.

" The original appointments in the Customs depart
ment embrace six classes. There doea not appear to be
much difference in the original examination and proba-
tion for them all, but the last five classes can never rise
to the first; and lockers, in particular, hold situations of
very great responsibility, and are frequently employed as
landing waiters. Your Committee see no reason why
in the case of meritorious officers the exclusion should
be continued, but every transfer from one class, or even
grade, to another should be accompanied by a strict
examination. The general pay of the officers does not
appear to be too large, but this brings your Committee
to the consideration of
"3.—FINES AND SATISFACTIONS.
"Up to 1847 the Board of Inland Revenue divided
the half of all penalties with the informer, its own officer.
This being found to act against the credit of the wit-
ness, an Act was passed in that year appropriating the
whole to the Crown, but the Treasury still allows part of
the fund thus created to be distributed among deserving
officers, without reference to the seizures they may have
made. The practice at the Customs is different. The
officers detaining goods for wrong entry get the whole
fines imposed, which amount in London to an average of
5001. per annum, divided among them, and a large pro-
portion of all seizures and satisfactions. In 1850,
24,2521. Bs. 9d. were received by the. Customs for all
seizures, fines, penalties, or satisfactions, and 10,8901.
7s. 7d. were divided among 1,948 officers. It is admittedthat this has a tendency to
make them too strict in the
execution of their duty, and occasionally causes vexa-
tious delay to the merchant. Your Committee recom-
mend, therefore, that the practices of the Board of In-
land Revenue be adopted, and that the meritorious offioer
should look chiefly to promotion as his reward.
" 4.—AD VALOREM DITTIES.

" Conclusive evidence has
been furnished, both by
merchants and officers of Customs, to your Committee,
that these duties, however good in theory, operate badly
in practice. The gross amount of them in 1850 was
only 188,8334, while during the same period the number
of seizures was 421, keeping up a greater staff of officers
than would be otherwise necessary, and
giving great
trouble to the board, which has to decide on the market
value of so many different articles. By law, if the
Crown stop goods for under-valuation, it has to pay the
importer 10 per cent. over the value he puts on them.
It then puts them up to public sale, frequently divided
into such small lots as must affect most injuriously
the retail trader ; and, notwithstanding this pre-
caution, the loss to the Crown for the port of
London alone thereon was, in 1850, 8161. 10e. 5d.,
while the detaining officers, who get half of any
profit, but are subjected to no share of loss, received
5571. 6s. 3d. Your Committee are of opinion that the
number of articles subject to ad valorem duties may be
largely reduced with advantage to trade, and without
material loss to the revenue; and with respect to any
which must necessarily be retained, it appears advisable
to adhere to the orders some time since issued by the
Board of Customs, which direct that, previous to the
absolute seizure of articles for undervalue, the importers
should be apprised of the value put upon the goods by
the officers, and should be at liberty to decide whether
they will amend their entry or abandon the goods.
Your Committee, also, had strong evidence in the case
Of tea (before the last change), sugar, and nutmegs,
showing how difficult it is to assess duties varying on
different classes of the same article, because the natural
desire of the importer is to introduce articles of the
very highest
quality admissible under the lowest rate
of duty.
5--SEIZURE AND STOPPAGES, AND ADJUDICATIONS

OF VIM,
" When an officer stops goods or ships ho is ordered
to communicate verbally to the owner or his agent as
much information for the grounds of stoppage as he
con-
aiders proper. The owner then petitions the board in
writing, while the detaining officer also makes his writ-
ten report to the board, which is not shown to the mer-
chant, and the latter, after the lapse of a period varying,
in most cases, from one to nine days, receives a verbal
intimation of the decision in his case, unaccompanied by
any reasons for it. If parties subsequently apply for a
written answer, it is not refused them. In lieu of this
practice, which was condemned in the case of the Excise
by a former Prime Minister, the following plan has been
strongly recommended by the evidence, and your Com-
mittee think that a fair trial should be given to it—that
an officer, whenever he seizes or stops property, shall
state in writing
the ground for that proceeding,
so that the merchant or his agent may know with
what he is charged, and that he shall then have the
option either of petitioning as at present, or of demand-
ing to have his case heard in public; that for the latter
purpose a Commissioner shall sit daily to hear the
evidence both of the merchant and the detaining
officer, and of their witnesses, and to adjudicate
thereon. Independent of the manifest justice of this plan
the committee believe that after it has been worked a
short while it will save time to all parties, because nei-
ther the over-reaching merchant nor the litigious officer
will like to be exposed to a public trial; and the Commis-
sioners will soon acquire a greater knowledge of their
staff, and a greater uniformity of decision. The chair-
man of the Board of Excise stated to your Committee
that he found hearing visa voce evidence most advan-
tageous, and that the result has been within the last
twenty years a diminution of three-fourths in the num-
ber of cases tried. It appears in evidence that the num-
ber of mercantile applications to the board in London
alone has been at the rate of 10,000 per annum, taking
on an average two days to decide them; and as this loss
of time must, in the present days of competition, press
most severely on traders, your Committee suggest that,
so far as it can be done without danger to the revenue,
greater power in the amendment of entries, &c., might
be given to the landing-waiter on the spot, or at any rate
to the landing surveyor, who is never far distant—the
latter, of course, making subsequently his report there-
on to the board—and that, to use the language of a
Treasury minute of the year 1814, ' the penalties in-
tended for the punishment of fraud should not be applied
to accident or trivial omissions.'

•."6.—LAWS OF COSTS AND PENALTIES.
"The present state of the law of costs is this:—ln
the case of information for arrears of duty, the Crown
neither pays nor receives costs. In that of a seizure or
return of goods for forfeiture into the Court of Exche-
quer, and subsequent claim made by the owner thereof
on affidavit, tae Crown has a right to demand 1001. se-
curity for costs on each indenture, the number of in-
dentures being theoretically unlimited, but each practi-
cally representing all goods seized at the same time and
place. If the Crown succeeds, it is legally entitled to
its costs, although in practice the amount of the bond
alone is generally exacted. If it fails it pays none, and
the party whose goods were seized may, unless the
judge who tried the case certifies that there was pro-
bable cause for the seizure, bring an action against the
seizing officer, who is alone responsible, and who may
not be worth proceeding against. Your Committee sug-
gest that the subject has a right to be put on as good
a footing in regard to costs as the Crown; that the
time allowed the subject for bringing an action is too
short; and that some prescription should bind the
Crown. It appears also to your Committee that in the
case of goods not liable to more than 100/, duty a
cheaper tribunal might with propriety be substituted for
the Court of Exchequer.
" 7.—TIIE TRANSIT SYSTEM.
" Your Committee are of opinion that British shipping
being now subjected to full competition with foreign,
every facility should be given to the passage of goods and
persons through this country; that, therefore, the prac-
tice be universally adopted of examining no goods in
trarsif, unless the officer has reason to suspect an in-
tention to commit fraud; that it is not necessary to en-
force the regulations of the Sib and 9th of Victoria, c.
63, as to the transit of foreign manufactures with

,
tation of British marks, or of books possessiM a British ;
_copyright, and that the system now introdncEd, of al-
lewing goods (including passengers' luggage) to be sent
without inepeetion from Hull to Liverpool in railway
vans, under the charge of an officer of Customs, might
be extended to ell parts of the countli
where the same
means of communication exist, It has been alleged that
the transit from one railway station to another
in London might ',led to fraud, but,
with such respect-
able railway companies, this might be easily guarded
against, and the removal of.dutiabla goods in common
carts, guarded by a locker, from the wharfs to the up-
town warehouses at Liverpool, has not been found to
have that Effect. Your Committee also suggest that
where bonded goods aro sent by coasting conveyances
from one English port to another hr exportation only,
such a partial examination may b. made as shall be
deemed requisite to test the integrity of the transaction.
The traiistv,,Of packages
of goods of all sizes, where no
suspicion exists of fraude should alto be allowed, ex-
cepting in the case of tobacco, and even then, where the
packages are evidently meant as sample". There is
evidence of trade having been obstructed by the regula-
tions in the case of spirits. Your Committee also see no
fiscal reason why the importation of arms of all kinds,
whether in transit or for home consumption, should be
prolibited.

B.—FINES ON stupplNG.
" Your Committee are of opinion that the criminal re-
sponsibility of the crews of vessels for an act of smug-
gling on their part ought in most cases to be a sufficient
security to the revenue, and that it is therefore not ex-
pedient to detain the ship or to fino its owner, excepting
when the fraud has been committed by the captain or the
chief mate, or when such extensive preparations for
great fraud have been detected as to arguet negligence en
their parts.

" 9.—BONDING SYSTEM.
" The original importer of
goods is liable by law for
all duties thereon,
however long they remain in bond,
and although he may have Parted with his interest in
them years before, and the property been transferred
from one to another of various parties. Many cases of
conseqhent hardship have been brought before your
committee, and they suggest that the warehouse-keeper,
not 'the importer, should be held responsible for the du-
ties, with the following securities to himself:—
" That the Customs locker be bound to band to the
warehouseman in the care of
bonded goods a duplicate
warrant for their delivery, such warrant to protect him
against any action on the part of the Crown.
" That, in the case of an examining-floor, where the
goods may be said to pass in
transit, either such war-
rant must be given, or the signature by the Customs
officers of the warehouse-keeper's books will be held
equally valid.
" That at The expiration of
fear Years from the land-
ing of the goods, stock thereof `may _
be taken by the
Crown, so as to /limit the responsibility of the ware-
houseman, and the Customs should then call on the then
proprietor to re-enter the goods, and in cases where the
duty is assessed on the landing we;
- --ghts or quantities, to
pay up the duty on such deficiency as may be ascertained
to exist at =the time, and cannot be traced to natural
causes.
" A question has been raised by the gentlemen con-
nected with Liverpool, as to the necessity of keeping up
the distinction which prevails in favour of warehousesof
special security.
"It is asserted, that from the Privilege enjoyed by
_
those warehouses of an unlimited allowance for waste,
they have established a partial monopoly, Y and have dis-
proportionately raised their charges. It may be further
urged, that the mere circumstance of their being enclosed
with walls, however eff Privilege
was
ctive when the first
g
conferred, gives no sufficient additional security, now that
the police and Customs regulations have undergone such
great improvements.
"The Board of Customs have graduall-
Y and very con-
siderably of late years extended within the port of Lon-
don the privileges of the ordinary
warehouses, and your
Committee, although fully aware how
much caution is
necessary in dealing with articles subject to high duties,
yet think it advisable that the measure of more eqnaliz-
ing the privilege of the several classes of warehouses
should undergo the serious consideration of the corn-
patent
authorities.-
" A great part of the complaints which have been
brought under the notice of youeCommittee have arisen
from questions connected with the Provisions of the
Warehousing Acts, and your Committee
e would there-
fore recommend to the serious consideration of her Ma-
jesty's Government the necessity of
modifying
these
Acts, so as to meet the exigencies of the increased trade
of the country.
" 10.--PASSENGERS' LUGGAGE.
" Your Committee examined on this point one of the
most experienced landing surveyors, and see no reason
why the luggage should not be examined on board
steamers, particularly large ones, wherever there is
sufficient space on deck and below. The objections to
this practice hitherto appear to have arisen chiefly from
the captains of the steamers. The saving of time to
passengers would be very great, particularly, in the
Thames, where it is admitted that not one seizure a
month takes place. This plan
,has been adopted in
Liverpool, in the case of Canards steamers.
" 11.—HOURS OF ATTENDANCE.
"Your Committee are of opinion that the hours of
attendance might be from 7 A.M. to 5 lex. during the
six summer months, in the out-door department, subject
to a break -in the middle of the day; and for in-doors
from Bto 4. A clerk, with proper relief, should remain
till 8 P.M. to clear out ships.
" 12.—SIMPLIFICATIONS OF ENTRIES OF FREE GOODS.
" The number of entries for free goods inwards in the
port of London alone, for the year 1851, was 76,095,
and each of them passed theough the hands of 19;officters
of the Customs, creating much unnecessary labour to the
officers, besides compelline the merchant's clerks to draw
out two copies of each entry, and take them to the
Custom-house. For this the following plan has been
submitted to your committee as a substitute:—That the
ship's manifest, and the report of her consignee, be the
sole entry required in the ease of free goods; that a copy
of them be sent to the landing-waiter as his warrant, and
that the information for statistical purposes now obtained
from the merchants entering goods should be given by
the ship's consignee from the freight account. In order
to dispense with the entry for goods (all now free) out-
wards, it has been suggested to your Committee that
every shipper should send to the agent for the ship a bill
of lading, containing on the back the information
required for statistical Purposes, which is the sole
point that concerns the Customs; and that, from the
number of those documents, composing a cargo, the
ship's agent should make out, one
content for the Cus-
tom-house.
" It has been stated to your Committee that the statis-
tical information will be thus far more accurate than if
furnished before the goods can be put on board, and,
consequently, very often
before
the merchant is in pos-
session of the real contents of his shipment. Several
other amendments of practice—where dispatch in the
execution of orders is requite, the merchant might be
allowed a running account--have been brought under
our notice, but your Committee think it best simply to
refer them to the serious consideration of the Commis-
sioners of Customs.
" 13.—coDeeic
is
" The Customs revenue 5
now collected under 23
different Acts of Parliament, and an annual issue by the
Commissioners of about 120 new rules and regulations.
It is admitted by the. Board that these ought to be con-
solidated. Some of the improvements
now suggested
can be at once carried, oat h
-- -3' the Treasury orders, while
others will undoubtedly require fresh Acts of Parlia-
ment. Your Committee therefore strongly recommend
that one or more consolidated Bills be brought in early
next session, and that the rules and regulations be an-
nually published. A coroplete code could thus be ob-
tained, accompanied perhaps h
"Y a further revision of the
tariff; and your Committee also
hops that no Customs
Bill, embodying any materiel Change, will in future be
introduced at a late Period of the se-ssion
" 14.--"Tt'oetTs•.
"Your Committee have heard witnesses from Liver-
pool, Hull, and Belfast; many of
their recommendations
are already embodied in this report. A desire is strongly
expressed by the witnesses from Liverpool that the local
board, consisting of the collector
) controller, and inspec-
tor-general, should have power to decide On the spot all
cases not involving more than 10 of revenue—all such
cases to be, of course, reported tote
eiondon subsequently,
and your Committee see no reason why this privilege
should not be extended to all first.ciass ports, where the
officers must be -of high standing, because the central
board would always have the Power of checking any
greater deviation from the .uniformite
y of system than is
rendered necessary by the peculiar local circumstances.
It is suggested that for the convenience of trade, the
landing officers might also have ; a
—seretionary power to
extend the credit on peat' entries to 1001. Your Com-
mittee recommend these iiuggestions to the serious con-
sideration of the Treasury.
o The classificatiop of the different outports does not
appear to rest' on any fixed rule; and
a complaint has
been made of it in the case' of Belfast.,,

I
ROUSE OF CiLinz,,
The annual meeting of friends and '2. • .
associates of the
House of Charity, Rose street. Soho-so „
•
The averag© on Thursday at the institution; the Rs,llvreo. was
• Tupper,
the warden, in the chair. The report '
stated that during
the year 56 men, 123 women, and 49 children had been
hold
admitted—in all 238.
duration of their
stay, while in search of employment, attendin hospitals
as out-patients, or preparing for emigration has been a
month or five weeks. It is thought that more might be
done to enable the inmates to obtain coaployment—the
warden and council therefore would revive the practice
of assigning the cases where special help is required
to ono or more associates. Aer acltnowledging the
donations and legacies, the countil direct attention to
the expediency of obtaining a permanent home'
An institution of this kind, and
in these days,
aiming at a high religious standard, and
Possessing
than
more t
' the ordinary capabilities of expansion both i n
,
its religious and its benevolent aspects, should not be
suffered to remain in a confined acd experimental posi-
tion longer than is necessary for testing its ies
pri; nci p.
and the measures by which they are to be worked out.
For the last two years a wish had been expressed that
the benefits of the house should be extended to certain
classes not originally contemplated, namely, the in-
curably sick; respectable aged or infirm persons, able to
contribute such small sums; and penitent women. The
warden and council have given much consideration to
this question, and recommended that the plan of exten-
sion tor the present include only the second class of per'
manent inmates. In conclusion, the report urges theas-
sociates and friends of the charity to assist in the re-
moval of the charity to other and permanent premises, as
well as for the general objects of the institution. The
report was unanimously agreed to; and several other
resolutions, in accordance with the suggestions thrown
out in it, were also carried. The balance-sheet showed
that the receipts for the year had been 1,5154 including
the sale of 3171. stock; the expenditure was 1,25514
1 leavie a balance in band of 2604