The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-27 00:00:00

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ENORMOUS FRAUDNlJftitil4g
REVENTIE .
Wheii it is remembered how well the country re-
munerates the chief officers of those departments of
the State to whom it delegated the collection of duties,
mid more especially those appertaininOnthe receipt
of
~iinports - upon - foreign and colonial produce and
manufactures, the public are entitled tO7have as their
servants the most intelligent and kiost attentive,
without prejudice to any one, the mostjitmest indivi-
duals. It will be for the public to express an opinion,
if when we shall have brought before its -notice the
many laxities—the frauds—the instances:of favouriaism
—the attempt to screen really guilty parties,• and the
immolation of their dupes, the functions of the Com-
missioners of her Majesty's Customs at the head de-
partment, have, or have not, been fully and satiii-
tlietorily administered. The enormous frauds now
in daily progress of investigation are not, in 'the
aggregate, confined to tens of thousands, but to
hundreds of thousands of pounds. Indeed, it is said
in some quarters that the revenue . has suffered
to the extent of nearly a million sterling..: From
the series of notices it may be
,iieceiftary to
devote to this important subject, names of parties
high in commercial circles must, if cleaned tequisite,
be given. The names of firms which 'are known to
have connived at these frauds with the landing waiters
are in our possession,
examination in with all the 1003 and line of
support of participation, ,as..giVen in
(
evidence before the Court of Inquiry nowsitting upon
this subject. But independently of the non-per-
formance of their duties by the officials of the Custom-
house, in protecting, by due diligence and ample
control, the revenues of the
arising out of the kingdom,long-on-
.there is an-
rand which involves the interest
toitnhueerd copranseidtieereatuirf,
and prosperity of the really honest merchant and
trader. It must be clearly apparent that if five
traders are carrying on business in the sonie line, four
of them paying their duties honestly and, openly ou
foreign
goods imported, while the fifth, by a ,con-
nivance with any officer of Customs, gets Ins placed
in his warehouse without the outlay of the duty,
or by paying infinitely less through the medium of
false entries (hereafter to be fully illustrated), that the
former cannot compete with the latter; and thoughthey struggle ever so hard to maintain their position,
though they may make sacrifices to _effect sales in
order to keep their customers together for a timO,
still, in the lung run, wholesale losses must. be en-
tailed upon them by tile ruinous and fruitless com-
petition ituitteed. Public morality, then, •indepeirp.
dently ()Pother interests connected with- the due col-
lection of the resources of the kingdom, demands that
the unfair system new under rsview should be probed
to the core and exposed. There are, it is rumoured,
reasons why the result of the investigation now going
on, and the evidence taken, should be hashed up, that
the parties delinquent may not be publicly named.
That an Exchequer process might be issued—that
thousands of pounds should be paid by the parties im-
plicated—and that they be left to re-commence their
operations hereafter with renewed vigour-the fine
imposed being uniformly less than the profits illegally
made, and again render of no avail the exertions of
the honest num to follow his trade. Ifsuch be the
course intended, it is the duty of the Press to state
all the facts that have already transpired, through
private sources, relative to the recently discovered,
and previously successfully executed frau& upon the
revenue.