The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-08-20 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARI.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF
REVENUE INQUIRY.

Our readers no doubt remember a series of articles
which appeared in the London Times, in the autumn of
last year, laying open a system of a very fraudulent, or
at least suspicious, character, alleged to be carried on
amongst the superior officers of the Customs. The de-
tailed nature of the charges thus brought forward, and
the intimate knowledge of the working of the Customs
department displayed by the writer, stamped them with
an importance which rendered an inquiry into their truth
absolutely necessary; and accordingly the Commissioneri
of Revenue Inquiry, then sitting, proceeded to call before
them several parties (including the gentleman, a Mr.
Roper, who had written the articles in the Times, and
Mr. Poole, a discharged searcher, and others), and, after
a long and patient inquiry, have addressed to the Lords
Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury a report, which
is now before us.
It is admitted, at the outset of this report, that very
numerous frauds and irregularities have been practised in
the landing department of the Custom-house in London,
a considerable portion on the Surrey side of the river,
where the inspection of the superior officers has been
most deficient. Goods subject to high duties have been
passed as goods subject to merely nominal duties. In
one instance a cargo of coculus indicus passed as flax.
Barrels of snuff have been passed as pork, silks as calf-
skins, &c. In all these frauds the officers have been
acting in dishonest concert with importers or agents ;
and it appears that the greatest facilities have existed
upon those wharfs, mainly used for the coasting trade,
where the surveillance exercised was least. A practice
has existed, amongst these officers, of having carousals
in the upper rooms of the warehouses on the quays, to
which none of their inferiors were admitted, and at which
it is said that the wines used have been drawn from the
bonded stores, and consumed, with the connivance of the
importers, duty-free.
A great portion of this system is attributed, by the
Commissioners, to the fact of the landing-officers being,
practically, uncontrolled by the officers beneath them in
rank. No such inferior officer, although perfectly in-
formed of malpractices going on, durst lodge any infor-
mation, from the almost certainty that the affair would be
burked, and the party laying the information dismissed
or suspended, the duty of inquiring into its truth devol-
ving upon an officer of probably the same class as the
one complained against. To remedy this, it is proposed
that such inquiries shall in future be taken before one of
the Commissioners instead of an officer, by which it is
thought that the Board will he more likely to arrive at
the knowledge of any malpractices going on. It is sug-
gested, too, that an increased number of officers be placed
upon the wharfs upon which facilities for fraud chiefly
exist, and that those officers be more frequently removed
from station to station.

Upon the subject of the relative position of the different
classes of officers, we take the opportunity of quoting
from the report in extenso

" It is a remarkable circumstance, the, in all the disclosures
which have come to our knowledge, a combination between a
landing-waiter and his subordinate officer, to effect an illegal
importation, has never appeared. We do not mean to absolve
the whole class of weighers or other inferior officers from sys-
tematic and successful attempts to defraud the revenue. There
are numerous instances of such disgraceful conduct by them,
but there is no proof of confederasion between the landinF-
waiter and his weigher. Without, therefore, denying that in
some instances they may have joined in illicit practices, we
feel ourselves warranted in stating that the greater proportion
of the frauds committed by the landing-waiters were not parti-
cipated in by their subordinate officers, and, nevertheless, they
were such as those individuals (if they had been by their duty
called upon to give attentirn to the nature of the importations
on which they were employed) must in many instances have
detected. _ _

" We have no desire to degrade the landing-waiters. It is
es-ential to the public service that, amongst them, as amongst
every other class of officers, self-respect should be encouraged ;
and no regulation should be adopted which could really be de-
rogatory to their position ; but, in our opinion, the object should
be to apply this principle to all persons in the employment of
the Customs' department.

" We certainly think that the position of the lower classes of
officers has not been always viewed in a proper light, and we
should anticipate most useful results to the public service if
they were led to feel that to the manual duties, for which they
are specially appointed, they were bound to add a constant
vigilance, and were encouraged to control the attempts of
others, whatever might be their position, in the commission of
fraud. _

" From the highest to the lowest class, the integrity of the
officer is the first object to he attained, and the more each offi-
cer can be made to feel his own reputation interested in the
protection of the revenue, and in the prevention of frauds, the
more probable is it that he will resist the innumerable tempta-
tions to swerve from his duty, which are constantly presenting
themselves to him. It is also worthy of consideration, whether
the proportion of the proceeds of seizures now accruing to a
weigher might not be increased with advantage."

The accusations of Mr. Roper and Mr. Poole, directed
against several of the superior officers of the customs, into
which, most particularly the commissioners thought it
their duty to enquire, resolve themselves into the follow-
ing heads,—viz. :
Ist,—llis having been employed by such officers, and by commis-
sioners themselves, in buying goods in small quantities at wholesale
prices, averaging 30 to 35 per cent. under retail prices.
2nd,—He obtained for a commissioner silk goods by retail, whilst
they were under examination at the Custom-house.
3rd,—lmproper release of passengers' baggage seized.
4th,—The determination, by tossing up, on the part of two land-
ing surveyors (since promoted), whether a duty of 20s. or 275. 6d.
should be charged on certain silk goods.
sth,—The toleration by a surveyor-general of the fabrication of a
blue book, in place of the proper one, lost
6th,—The corrupt intimacy of a surveyor-general with a party,
who was concerned in recent fraudulent transactions and discharged.
7th,—The habitual practice of most of the commissioners and of
officers of every grade, of making purchases at the Customhouse
sales in fictitious names, through the medium of the officers en-
trusted with their lotting and sale.
The whole of these charges appear to have undergone a
searching examination ; and have, in every case, been
found insufficiently proved to fasten a stigma upon the
character of the parties against whom they were levelled,
although against the impropriety of some of the transac-
tions the commissioners earnestly protest.

SMUGGLING TOBACCO.—At the Police-court yesterday
William M'Pherson, a seaman, was fined 205., or in de-
fault to be imprisoned seven days, for smuggling 341 b. of
foreign manufactured tobacco.
CANADA AND THE STATES.—The steam-ship Great
Western, Captain Matthews, sailed at noon on Saturday
for New York, with 132 passengers, and a larger amount
of freight than she has taken out on any previous occa-
sion. The steam-ship Hibernia will sail to-day for Hali-
fax and Boston.
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY.—Three young girls, Betsey
Kelly, Elizabeth Tyrrell, and Jane Smith, were yester-
day placed before Mr. Rushton, at the police-court.
Kelly was charged with stealing a sovereign from a chest
belonging to Mary Williams, her mistress, and the other
two with receiving it. They were all committed for trial.
MUSHROOMS have recently, in this neighbourhood,
been so abundant, as to have become almost a drug in our
public markets and streets. They have been sold, of good
quality too, at from lid. to 2d. per quart—a price which,
considering the toil of gathering, and the expenditure of
shoe leather in the morning wet or dew of the old mea-
dows, can scarcely be remunerative. Pains-taking house-
keepers have been enabled to bottle up an ample supply
of ketchup.
We observe that the claims of the Church of England
School Society will be advocated in St. Bartholomew's
Church, on Sunday evening next, by the Rev. H. H.
Higgins, who is well acquainted with its operations and
the beneficial results of its efforts. We need no other
argument to recommend this society to the support of the
friends of Scriptural education, than to make it known
that upwards of 2000 children, belonging to the poorer
and working classes of this town, are now receiving in-
struction in its schools.

PROTESTANTISM AND POPERY.-At a meeting of the
London Missionary Society, last week, on the proceedings
of the French at Tahiti, the Rev. B. Noel said " he rejoiced
that, although these difficulties had occurred, they were
calculated to fix an eternal hatred on the Roman Catholic
religion. (Cheers.) Catholicity and Protestantism were
now face to face in Otaheite : Catholicity, supported by
French cannon, French brandy, and the debauchery of
French sailors ; Protestantism, supported by the Bible,
by the civilization and happiness of the Otaheitans.
(Cheers.) Give the Catholics every liberty they might
ask, only let them not gag the defer.ders of the truth,
and he had no fear for the result." It would be well it
the rev. gentleman would always speak in the same un-
compromising spirit.
THE CROPS.—During the past week the weather has
been showery, or drizzly, in this quarter; but we have
had no long soaking rains as yet, and the high winds that
have occasionally prevailed ha ve to a great extent neutra-
lised the effects of these downfals, by speedy evaporation.
To-night, (Monday,) however, a thick and rather threa-
tening rain is falling, which if it continue long may retard
field operations, if not indeed injure the ripe grain yet on
the ground. A good deal of wheat and oats has already
been cut in the neighbourhood, but comparatively little
has been housed, and whether as regards that in the stock,
or that on its legs, the gathering is somewhat precarious.
The wheats are generally excellent, and, on the average
for this county, abundant. The spring corn is short both
in ear and in straw. The turnips, and especially the po-
tatoes, fed by the late rains, look exceedingly promising.
THE CAUSE LIST.—Of the cases for trial, from the
Hundred of Salford, three only remain for trial. These
are marked for special juries, in one of which, that of
"Farrar v. Deflinne," the Solicitor-General, Sir Frederick
Thesiger, is specially retained, with a fee of 300 guineas.
The Solicitor-General is also retained specially, with a fee
of the like amount, for the Corporation of Manchester, in
the case of " Milne v. the Manchester Corporation ." and
for the plaintiff, Mr. Fitzroy Kelly has been specially re-
tained, also, it is said, with a fee of the same amount.
The case is not likely to last long, as, in all probability, a
special verdict will be returned, subject to the opinion of
the Court of Queen's Bench upon the question whether
Mr. Milne, as clerk to the stipendiary magistrate of Man-
chester, is an officer entitled to compensation under the
charter recently conferred upon that borough. The two
cases in which these eminent counsel are specially re-
tained, have been appointed for Friday next. The list
for the Hundred of West Derby is rather longer than
usual, containing no less than ninety-five causes, of
which eighteen are marked to be tried by special
juries. We do not hear of any counsel being specially
brought down in any case in the list, the tact
and eloquence of the ordinary members of the cir-
cuit being probably considered equal to whatever exigen-
cies may arise. Altogether there are only eleven special
jury cases in the whole list. The common cases in the
first list were cleared off last evening. The
arrangements made by Mr. Justice Cressvrell, on Satur-
day evening, are as follows :—The special jury cases in
the second, or West Derby list, will be taken in the order
in which they stand after the whole of the common jury
causes in that list shall have been disposed of. The first
special jury cause in the first list, " Booker and another
v. Tebbutt," (No. 15,) will be taken to-day; and the se-
cond special jury cause in the same list, " Bentley v.
Fleming," (No. 30,) will be taken immediately after the
Common juries in the second list are gone through.