The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-22 00:00:00

it was a case in-which persons who -stood as high as any in
• credit and reputation had been imposed on and made un-
wittingly the means of bringing charges of a most serious
kind and without the slightest foundation against some
most deserving officers. It was a case with which members
would be acquainted as one purporting to be a case of great
injury to a Mr. Marchand. Early last year the Commis;
sioners of Customs had intimation that a very large system
of smuggling had been organised and was carried on. The
chairman said, " On general information I cannot act. Give
us such information as shall lead to the detection of the
parties engaged in an act of smuggling." Two or three
weeks after the same gentleman came with an intimation
that Mr. Marchand was so engaged ; though his place of
business was in Red Lion-street, yet they-pointed toa place
behind Bedford-row, near Joekey-fieldss as a place where a
large quantity of smuggled property would be found. The
officers knocked at the door of the place- pointed out, were
admitted by a lady, and when told their errand, no woman
charged with any crime could have better-expressed indigna-
tion. She denied all knowledge of Marchand. The officers
searched the house in vain, and were about to leave, when,
one of them happening by chance to knock his heel against
the landing, observed that it sounded as if it were hollow.
He took up the carpet, and. on a search found a quantity of
papers and no les's than lt cases of Watches, to the value of
5,0001. A person came to the doorat- the time and the officer
asked whether his name was Marchand?? He replied in the
negative, but the officer afterwards recognised him, and he
was known to the commissioners as Mr. Marchand. The
lady would not produce the key of the boxes. The officers
said " We will seal them up in your presence ; and to-mor-
row, if you or any one else will come, they will be opened
in your presence or in the other's, and the contents will be
carefully noted." A solicitor came for this person, whose
name was Miss Payne ; and the goods were scheduled. An
inquiry was commenced as to the propel ty of those goods. I
A correspondence, seized with them, showed that a very
large and extensively-organised system of smuggling existed
and that the steamboats between this country and the con-
tinent were made vehicles for smuggling. Letters from
Geneva, Boulogne and Paris spoke of " the man of Mon-
day," " the man of Tuesday," and' so on. Those goods,
according to law, must be claimed within a certain period
or forfeited to the Crown. No one appeared. Miss Payne
was prosecuted and imprisoned ; she expressed contrition
for having been engaged in this crime. The goods, were
put up to public sale. The foreman of Marchand came and
examined them ; Marchand did so himself ; but several
months after, when the -case had been compromised for
2501., paid for Payne by this very man, he came with a pe-
tition praying to have his goods returned.. He stayed till
he was out of danger, till the case had been compromised.
The commissioners said they could not do anything. He
petitioned the Treasury. The case was carefully examined
by the hon. gentleman opposite. The facts became known,
and he gave a very short reply to Marchand, that he had
nothing to do but to adhere to the decision of the Commis-
sioners of Customs. There was always a list of persons
who made application when a Government came into office.
The sumo appeal was mado .6. the Treasury the same in-
quiry was made. He (Mr.-Wilson) took painis to incinire
into all the circumstances ; and, on knowing the facts, he
had very little hesitation ha returning the same answer as
his hon. friend opposite. Marchand wrote to Mr. Travers,
who he regretted to think should have been imposed upon,
and than whom none had inherited a higher commercial
name, or added a greater lustre to that name by the man-
ner in which he had conducted his business. Marchand
said, " Give me my books and papers back, and I will
prove 'everything." What were the facts ? The goods
were seized on the 10th of February. On the 12th his bill
book was returned ; every paper was returned in the early
part of March, and the receipt of his solicitor taken. That
was the foundation of all the imputations made against
the Custom-house officers—whom he trusted that, by his
statement of those circumstances, he had entirely excul-
pated.. 'Among the papers was a copy of a memorial which
Marchand had presented to the Customs ; and one of the
watches in the steamboat was traced as having been sold
by Marchand, and sent back to Gene4va; to bo repaired—a
circumstance distinctly connecting Marchand with the
smuggling transaction. That case must show how care-
ful it was necessary to be in dealing with the question of
free goods. One great advantage anticipated from reduc-
ing duties on raw materials was, that facilities . would, be
given for trade; but the plan which the Government pro-
posed.was not one recommended by the committee: With
respect to free goods introduced as-free goods, it was ar-
ranged that a separate room, as distinct from the long-
room, should be opened, so that on the arrival of a ship no
time should be lost in making the entry. [Mr. Mitchell
inquired what was to be done with free goods outwardsl
With respect to the entry of free goods outwards, the com-
mittee proposed that the bill of lading should be sent with
the information required. If there were no goods in regard
to which you did not require bond or give drawback, you
might allow vessels to sail with the entry suggested ; but
seeing that every cargo contained one or both descriptions
of goods, it was clear that the Custom-house officers must
have cognisance of everything in regard to the discharge
and the sailing and clearances of such ships. With respect
to the codification of the present Acts of Parliament, hon.
members were probably not aware, that prior to 1825 the
number of acts relating to the Customs amounted to 1,500.
Perhaps one of the most laborious and meritorious works
that were ever performed by man was the reducing those
1,500 acts of Parliament into the compass of the small
volume he then held in his hand. That work was performed
by Mr. James Deacon Hume, and lie believed that the very
book he then had before him was the one which Mr. Hus-
kisson produced to the house in the year 1825 as one of the
greatest triumphs of human labour that he had ever heard.
of. In alluding to that work, he might adduce it as fur-
nishing a remarkable example of the sound policy of the
present regulations established at the Customs-office with
regard to promotions.. The principle there recognised was
that every public officer, in however humble a position,
ought to have the prospect of, sooner or later, rising to the
most prominent station, provided he deserveh 'it ; for Mr.
Hume entered the service in a very humble capacity, and
by merit was raised through the various grades until he
was selected to be Secretary to the Board of Trade. In
1836, under Mr. Poulett Thomson, that work was still fur-
ther reduced ; and in 1845 the whole of those 1,500 acts
were finally comprised' in six acts of Parliament only. In-
structions had now been given to reduce those six acts into
one act—(hear, hear)—which would nevertheless include
every rule necessary to conduct the business of the Cus-
toms. The present solicitor to the Customs had undertaken
that work, and he had proceeded with it in a manner that
would do him great credit. He had discarded all technical
terms—(hear, hear)—using plain and simple language,
which any person who comprehended the English language
could not misunderstand. He (Mr. Wilson) hoped very
shortly to lay on the table of the house a bill containing
every law and regulation with regard to the Customs.
(Hoar, hoar.) And in order that no complaint should be
made as to any alterations that might from time to time be
made, instructions had been given to the Custom-house
Commissioners that every month all new regulations that
might be made should be published ; and it was intended
(so we understood) that every new regulation so made
should, at the end of every year, be added to the act, so
that a single act of Parliament should at all times contain
the whole of the Customs' regulations. He now came to
the subject of the outports, which was one of very great
importance. When the present constitution of the Board
of Customs was framed, and the present regulations were
laid down, a very different state of things with regard to
the outports existed to what was now the case. In 1817
the amount of shipping in the port of Liverpool was only
700,464 tons, whereas in the year 1850 it amounted to
3,786,000 tons. In 1817 the tonnage of shipping in the
port of London was 1,226,885 tons ; in 1850 it was
3,289,000 tons, being 500,000 tons less than in the port of
Liverpool. In 1817 the tonnage of shipping in the port of
Hull was 268,706 tons; in 1850 it was 836,000 tons. In
1817, in the Clyde, the tonnage was 106,542 tons ; in 1850
it was 435,000 tons. In 1817, at Newcastle, the tonnage
was 264,000 tons; in 1850 it was 1;165,000 tons. In 1817,
at Southampton, the tonnage was 43,000 tons ; in 1850 it
was 299,000 tons ; and at Bristol the tonnage in 1817 was
108,851 tons, and in 1850 it was 217,000 tons. The total
exports in 1850 amounted to 71,300,000/. The value of
exports from 'LiverpoOl -was 34,891,000/. ; from London,
14,137,0001. ' • from. Hull, 10,366,000/. ; from Glasgow and
the Clyde, 4,150,000/. ; making together 63,544,000/. ;
leaving the balance of 7,756,000/. exported froth. the various
other ports of the kingdom. These facts showed that the
time had come when there must be a change in the organ-
isation of the Custom-house establishinent. Circumstances
had totally altered since the time when London was almost
the only place of export, and seat of Custom-house autho-
rity. In the early part of his speech he stated that it was
not the intention of the-Government at the present time to
make any statement with regard to the reconstruction of
the Board of Customs, but that the subject was under con-
.sideration. But this he might say, that Whatever recon-
struction might take place in regard to that board, he had
stated enough to show that the town of Liverpool must be
placed in such a position as that it should be able for its
merchants to have decided day by day all important ques-
tions, that might arise under the Customs, whether by
means of a board or by any other form which it might be
considered necessary to establish. That was the decision
to which the Government had arrived ; and, considering
that Liverpool was rapidly increasing in importance, they
felt they should not be justified in 'postponing such an
arrangement even for a day. The Commissioners' of Cue-
toms' had therefore been authorised to extend the existing
authority at Liverpool to adjudicate upon all cases not ex-
ceeding 1001. value, without requiring the parties to wait,
as they were now obliged to do, till the Board of Customs
in London could be appealed to. The inquiries were to be
conducted in open court, and a report of all decisions was
directed to be made weekly to the board in London,
for the purpose, of preserving uniformity in practice.
The County Court Of Liverpool would also be open
to those who wished to go to it in all cases limited to
the sum he had mentioned. The Government were
now induced to extend this advantage to Liverpool
because it could not be denied that that town was becoming
the great commercial emporium of this country. He had
now gone through the whole or the
,recommendations of the
committee in regard to the Customs. There was one small
matter upon which the committee made no report, but
upon which the Government meant to make a change of
considerable importance. He alluded to the Isle of Man.
When that island was purchased from the Duke of Atholl
the Customs duties there was much lower than in this
country ; difficulties consequently arose on account) of
facilities being afforded for smuggling. To obviate- those
difficulties it was arranged that licenses should be granted
to particular persons to import a limited number of arti-
cles subject to duty. But applications were constantly
being made to have those quantities increased. After con-
sulting with the Lietitenant-Governor of the island, the
Commissioners of Customs had come to the conclusion
that it would be wise to entirely abolish the licensing sys-
tem, raise the rates of duty, and permit importation to
any extent whatever. He could not conclude his observa-
tions without referring, very shortly, to the great blame
whinh had been cast upon the Custom-liouse authorities in
London. He would mention a remarkable fact .He
would ask the house to consider the vast increase of labour
which had been imposed upon the Custom-house officers in
a feir years. In 1832 the• exports and imports' amounted
to 4000,000/. Now the amount of business to bo clone
byte h Custom-house officers might be measured by the
amount of imports and exports. What, then, was the
amount of imports and exports in 1852 ? Instead of
82,000,000/. it was 187,000,000/. The shipping in and out
in 1832 was 5,600,000 tons ; in 1852 it was 16,000,000
tons Then, by what number of men was thii work per-
forated ? In 1832 there were 10,770 men employed ; in
1852, notwithstanding the increase of business, there were
only 10,863 men employed. He would ask whether, in
fairness, this great increase of labour ought not to be taken
into'consideration. The cost of collection and manage-
ment in 1832 was 1,376,060/. ; the cost of collection in
1852, notwithstanding the shipping had increased from
5,600,030 tons to 16,000,000 tons, was only 1,268,0001.,
being less than in the year 1832, although three times the
amount of duty had to be performed by the same number
of men. These were facts which ought to be borne in mind
when persons complained of the conduct of Custom-house
officers. The object he had in making this statement, and
oflaYing these papers before the house, was that the great-
est possible facility shinild be given to the house and the
country to understand what were the intentions of the
Government upon this subject. He should •take steps to
foriard the papers in proper form to all the outports of