The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-22 00:00:00

injure its insulation. This is a simple fact which i
those least conversant with mechanics can easily.
uliderstand.- At the lowest computation the Atlan-
tic ca'ble will stretch two feet per mile. At the
deepest parts where it must be. laid six miles will
be suspended at one time. What becomes of the
conducting wire during this elongation ,of 12 feet ?
It must either break or become attenuated. The
atter accident, we believe, will be as bad as the
lormer, for at present it will be most diffieult to
get the current through 3,000 miles of 1-16th of
an inch wire, and quite impossible if either strain
or pressure reduce it in ary part to 1-24th or 1-32 d
of an inch diameter, as in electricity the weakest
part becomes the standard of the whole. We do.
not mean to say that the present cable will not suc-
ceed, but the chances are against it, and it is al-
most cert am that before it has been down 12 months
it will, like others similarly constructed, be per-
fectly useless. If it does answer temporarily it will
not be due to the plan on which it is made, but
in spite of it. The first locomotives built answered
the purpose for a time, and were undoubtedly loco-
motives, though neither of these reasons would
justify a company at the present day in ignoring
recent improvements and having their engines
made after those bygone models. It is the same
with submar'ne cables. The present one, though
lighter, cheaper, and more flexible than the pon-
derous iron coils through which shareholders have
lost hundreds of thousands irretrievably, is still
made on the same old principle of self-destructive-
ness. Why is not the new patent adopted which,
by the use of a large conductor, makes the core of
the cable its strength, and does away altogether with
the necessity for outside spiral wires By this
patent cheapness, lightness, increased conductibility,
and therefore certainty of electric action, . are in-
sured. Only by the adoption of plans like these
can the public ever hope for any extensive and use-
ful scheme of submarine communication. If this
Atlantic cable fails, what will be the result? Why,
that another, or a somewhat similar one, will be
ordered immediately. Is it likely, then, that manu-
facturers will ever press upon the notice of com-
panies a very cheap cable certain to do its work,
when under the present system they make two or
three very expensive ones, often (as in the Mediter-
ranean) with no other result than that of benefit-
ting trade while making it, and depositing it when
made at the bottom of the ocean ? Shareholders
must look into these matters for themsAves. We
can only point the way, and it rests with them to
follow it. In conclusion, we may mention that it
is intended to work the c able with Smee's batteries
—a most costly and troublesome plan. Morse's
recording telegraph, once a very valuable instru-
ment, though now behind many recent inventions,
is to be used.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF

C U.S TOMS.

.- The first annual report of the Commissioners of
her Majesty's Customs, prepared in compliance
with au order from the Lords of the Treasury dated
November 27, 1856, was presented to Parliament
shortly before its dissolution, and has just been
printed. The commissioners commence their re-
port with observations on the origin and formation
of the customs department, on the mode of collect-
ing customs, the appointment of the board, and on
the consolidations and reductions which have been
effected in the management since 1'792, at which
period there were nine commissioners for England,
five for Scotland, and nine for Ireland. The three
boards have since been consolidated into one cen-
tral body, and the number of- commissioners has
been reduced by successive Treasury minutes to
six. Corresponding reductions have been made
in the subordinate branches of the department,
so that the number of offices abolished in the
ten years ending January 5, 1830, amounted
to 3,408, and. the salaries thus saved ex-
ceeded a quarter of a million, and sUbsequent re-
ductions were made in 1849. These reductions are
represented to be not the most important of the
improvements that had been introduced in the first
part of the present century. "Formerly," the re-
port says, " a large proportion of the functionaries,
in every grade, from the highest to the lowest, owed
their appointment to political or local influence,
and not uufrequeutly received their offices as sine-
cures, or made them such." The report then pro-
ceeds to notice the reformation of that system, and
the recently introduced plan of appointments and
promotions as a great improvement on the previous
practice, and to point out the progressive advances
chat have beeu.made in the efficiency and economy
of this branch of the public service. The reductions
made in 1830 are contrasted with the great increase
and value of the imports, which, in the quarter of
a century which has since elapsed, has increased
upwards of 163 per cent., while the number of offi-
cers employed has increased only 14 per cent., and
their aGgregate salaries only 18 per cent.
The facilities and diminution of customs work by
digests and consolidation of the laws, by reduction
in the number of articles paying duty, and by other
arrangements, are dwelt upon by the commissioners
at considerable length, and then the report proceeds
to notice some of the practical results arising from
the facilities afforded to passengers in the examina-
tion of their baggage :
" The examination of the baggage of travellers arriv-
ing from foreign parts has constantly been a subject of
natural, bnt by no means always reasonable, complaint.
The customs authorities are often most unjustly blamed
for impediments and deficient accommodation, for which
they are not responsible, and over which, in fact, they
have no control. Railway and steamboat companies land
their passengers where they please and on their own
premises, and all that the revenue officers can do is to
attend punctually and perform their functions expediti-
ously and civilly, in such buildings as the companies in
question have provided for the public—buildings often
no doubt quite inadequate for the purpose. The com-
missioners have, however, done all in their power to
obviate real difficulties and to meet reasonable wishes.
In many cases baggage is now examined on board the

steamers, an
,experinelit which has perfectly succeeded,
and which is now extended (or in process of extension)
to the case of passengers arriving in sailing vessels from
long voyages, who can now take their personal effects
away with them at once, and pay the duties on such
articles as May be liable to duty in the baggage ware-
houses, and without the intervention of agents. Travel-
lers, too, in possession of dutiable goods, and who are
merely passing through the country (say from France to
America via London and Liverpool), were formerly put
t ) some inconvenience ; this is now obviated by a very
simple arrangement, in virtue of which they pay the
duty as a deposit at their port of arrival, and receive an
order for its repayment at their port of embarkation.'
The great increase of the commerce of Great
Britain is shown satisfactorily by the maintenance
of the customs revenue, notwithstinding large re-
ductions in the duties. On this point, and on the '
decrease of smug ;ling, the commissioners observe :
"IJuder the influence of the various circumstances
upon which we have touched in the preceding pages—the
simplification of the tariff, the reduction of duties, and
the facilities afforded to merchants and shippers—th,
commerce of Great Britain has shown a marvellous in-
crease, and the revenue a still more marvellous elasticity.
Between the years 1831 and 1834, the first very exter-
sive steps were taken in the removal of prohibitions, and
the reduction and remission of customs duties. Tbel3o
were follow ed, in 1842 and 1844, by still bolder advances
in the same direction, and every successive year has seen
further progress, culminating in the vastly reduced and
simplified tariff of 1853. The net aggregate of these re-
ductions amounts to above 10 millions. Yet, notwith-
standing, the customs revenue has scarcely varied for
the last 20 years, ranging steadily from 22 to 23 millions.
In 1835 the gross income was 23,149,000/. ; in 1855 it
was 25,482,000/.

"In order to produce such a result, it is obvious that
both the industry and the consuming power of the mass
of the nation must have augmented in an extra-
ordinary ratio. From the peace in 1815 to . the year
1826 the increase of ear commerce had been very trifling.
The entire imports, as measured by official value, showed
no great augmentation, but fluctuated about a medium
of 33,000,000/. The total exports fluctuated in like
manner about a medium of 52,000,0001. They were
58,000,0001. in 1815, and 51,000,000/. in 1826. From
that date, however, both branches of commerce took a
new start, and have never looked back.. The following
table will give the most remarkable picture of this in-
crease :

OFFICIAL VALUES.

Total British and
Imports
REAL VALUE.
Total
Exports Irish Produce
(in millions). (In millions). Exported
nilo s).
n
*lBl4-15-16 ... 314 ... 53.8
... 4 .2
1823-4-5 ... 38.8 ... 55.9 .. 37.5
1833.4-5 ... 48.1 '... 85.4 ... 42.9
1.843-t-5 ... 73.6 / ... 142.9 ... 57.0
1853-4-5 ... 121.6 ... 248:1 ... 97.2
* These years are taken because the records of 1813 were

Average
of Time Years.

destroyed by fire.
"The same encouraging tale of the commercial pro
gress of the country is told by the fables of vessel, built
and registered at various periods of this century. Thus
the average tonnage annually added was—
For 1823-4-5
„ 1833-4-5 162,800 „
„ 18 3-1.5 174,5u0
„ 1853-4-5 413,900
"The Navigation Laws, it will be remembered, were
repealed on the Ist January, 1850.
" With the reduction of duties, and the removal of all
needless and vexatious restrictions, smuggling has greatly
diminished, and the put lic sentiments with regard to it
have undergone a very considerable change. The
smuggler is no longer an object of general sympathy, or a
hero of romance ; and people are beginning to awake to
the perception of the fact that his offence is less a fraud
on the revenue tban a ' robbery of the fair trader.
Siougglinu proper is now almost entirely confined to to-
bacco, spirits, and watches ; though lace, silk, and other
tufting articles are still occasionally seized on the person
or in the baggage of unprincipled or inconsiderate pas
sengers. But all these cases are on the decrease ; in then
last 10 years they have diminished about one-third. The
thoughtless habit, however of so packing dutiable arti-
cles within the folds of ladies' dresses as to answer the
purpose, or at least to give the appearance, of fraudulent
concealment, still prevails among passengers arriving