The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-31 00:00:00

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CHARGES ON FOREIGN TRADE.

'The Committee of the House of Commons ap-
pointed to inquire into the operation of the petty
charges upon imports and exports met yesterday
for the first time—Mr. Moffatt in the chair.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer watt the first
witness. He stated that in the session of 1860 he
proposed small taxes upon entries inwards and out-
wards. The principal motive for those charges was
the necessity of obtaining the means of effecting a
great operation with-regard to the tariff, and it was
also hoped that it would be possible to effect a re-
duction in *:./e staff of the Customs department.
The obte'jnitg an improvement in the system of
statistics was also an important considera-
4;mn in regard to exports, but it was not so material
with regard to entries inwards. The completeness
of the alteration of the tariff of 1860 enabled the
-Board of Customs to carry out a large reduction of
the establishment, but in accordance with the bene-
volent usages of this country, that all abolition of
affioes should be attended by large compensation,
'the immediate saving to the country, although con-
,siderable, by no means represented the ultimate
advantage that would be derived. In order to effect
the reduction in the Customs establishment, toge-
ther with the alteration of the tariff, subsidiary
funds were required, and the two charges now in
question were proposed for that purpose, with the
idea that they could be levied without causing
trouble, delay, or vexation to any portion of the
community.

The Chairman asked why it was necessary to
create new charges when the Customs establishment
was 'reduced and its labours lightened.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied that the
charges were accompanied by a reduction of duties
to the extent of £2,800,000 in 1860, while the con-
templated reduction in the establishment was only
about £lOO,OOO.
The Chairman asked whether the penny tax on
entries inwards was net imposed with a view of
meeting the cost of statistics.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer said he could
not say how far the question of statistics was con-
tidered, as that was amatter for the Board of Trade
rather than the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The
plan, as originally proposed, was a simple one to
levy a charge of one penny upon goods generally,
taking a unit of package, or a unit of weight or
bulk ; but that plan broke down, because it was
found that there were many packages of small
value upon which a penny would be a sensible tax.
The plan was modified, and became, no doubt, more
inconvenient for mercantile men, but more conve-
nient for statistical purposes. He believed that
every effort had been made by the Customs autho-
rities to prevent trouble to merchants beyond what
Was necessarily incident to the levying of a tax. He
had expressed his views upon this subject as far
back as the 18th of April, 1861, in reply to a
memorial from some merchants. He had received
memorials from many large towns and ports, but he
did not remember any complaint of undue obstruc-
tion being offered by the Customs department.
Tho penny tax inwards, producing £138,009 a
year, he considered was bad in principle, but must
be maintained for a time as an element in the
balance-sheet. He took a different view of the
charge upon bills of lading outwards. It had been
originally intended to levy a penny tax upon
packages outwards, but that plan was found defec-
tive, and the present charge of ls. 6d. upon each bill
of lading was substituted. That charge it was im-
portant to retain, in order to improve our statistics
of exports, which had been very imperfect. He
doubted whether mercantile men objected to the
charge itself, although upon shipments of very
small value it might be a sensible tax ; but those
cases would form no perceptible proportion to the
commerce of this country.

The Chairman asked whether the charge was
not imposed chiefly for statistical purposes.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer said that the
charge was imposed partly to enati.e the Govern-
ment to carry out the alters
Mona in the tariff, but
its value fur statistical. purposes was its principal
recommendation,.
The ChPlrraan--If it should be proved that the
Gov,-
4rnment could obtain statistical information
Without the aid of this ls. 6d. stamp, would you
place this charge in the same category as the penny
inwards, and remove it when the finances would
allow ?

The Chancellor of the Exchequer did not think
these were the same reasons for abolishing this
charge as for getting rid of the penny tax on en-
tries inwards. The latter charge caused delay and
trcalma 01101. a,aLvvC Else pceuniary burden, which
was not the case with the former tax. The only
Objection he could find to the stamp upon bills of
lading was in the case of small shipments of little
value, and he remembered that he had a complaint
from one gentleman who had to pay the Is. 6d.
stamp upon a shipment of soda water, value 3s. 4d.,
to the Channel Islands. Such cases, however, were
comparatively rare, and he had received very few
complaints from any persons. With respect to the
'nine of the penny tax on entries inwards for sta-
tistical purposes, he was Rot prepared to give any
opinion, but, upon the financial aspect of the ques-
tion, he frankly admitted that he could not justify,

for the sake of the money it produced, the permanen

imposition of a charge involving so much labour and
delay and cost (in the shape of time) to the mercan-
tile community. With respect to the stamp upon
shipping bills, his impression was that it was finan-
cially unexceptionable, unless it might be in cases
which were too rare to be taken into account, and
for statistical purposes it was of great advantage.
In reply to Mr. Hutt, Mr. Gladstone said he did
consider that the charges created in 1860 were a
return to the principle of nominal duties.
Sir T. Fremantle, chairman of the Board of Cus-

toms, was the next witness. He said he could not
admit that the penny inwards was useless for the
collection of statistics. Before the imposition of that
tax the Customs had no means of verifying the mer-
chants'
returns, but the unit of entry cow adopted
afforded means/at arriving at results approximating
to the truth. Unless a tax of some kind were
levied, the officers could not obtain correct re-
turns, and as to the tax itself, he thought that
its present shape was the best that could be de-
vised. All the payments in London were mane oy
stamps in preference to money, and therefore he
doubted whether a better plan could be suggested.
The penny inwards was a mode of adjustment of
,
the Crown and the importers
duties between and
if after goods had been removed from the wharf or
ship it was found that sufficient stamps had not
been affixed to the order application was made to
the importers for additional stamps, the requisite
information being obtained from the wharfingers or
dock companies. No delay was caused in the
erchants were
de-
livery of the goods, because the m

allowed to remove them upon faith of their entries,
and if those entries were subsequently found to be
inaccurate application was made that the errors
might be corrected. In the case of over-payments,
when the fact was discovered notice was sent to
the importer, and the over-payment was returned
to him. Dutiable articles are now reduced to 22
principal heads, which comprised a considerable
variety of minor articles. Upon 149 articles the
penny unit had been adopted and made a unit of
entry. In order to obtain perfectly correct statistics
the unit of entry should be extended to all goods,
which would add about one-third to the present
number of articles so treated. The penny stamp
upon cases did not afford much statistical informa-
tion of tite quantities or numbers of the goods they
contained, as when once the penny was paid, and
the Customs officers were satisfied that the goods
were free goods, it would be vexatious to make a
thorough examination of the cases. In order to
obtain accurate statistics, he thought the Board of
Trade should Simplify their requirements, and re-
duce the list of articles now comprised in 23 long
pages to a much smaller number of items. Statistics
goods
relating to dutiablecould be obtained with-
out the penny stamp, but
upon free goods correct
information could not be obtained The without the im-
position of some tax. computedi value of
importation of dutiable artioe
in
1861 147118
£80,000,000, and of free goods £i3o
AMMO There
had been objections to the payment
of the two
charges which were the subject of the inquiry d
fume few complaints bad been made, but upon, the