The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-05-30 00:00:00

INSOT.VENT DEBTORS' COURT.

Yesterday, the Commissioner again held his Court,
and proceeded to hear the cases of several debtors,
who before the expiration of the late Act had petitioned
for their disehArges. There was only one case which
was likely to excite any public interest, and that was
postponed to a future day. All the others were mere
matters of account.

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BO %RD oF EXCISE.

Mr. James Thomas, a respectable malt salesman and
warehouseman, appeared to e plain of the duty on
520 quarters of malt, and to pray for the return of the
duty which had been paid on the same, on the ground
that it had been destroyed by tire.
This b.-ing considered as a case of considerable in-
terest to the malt trade, us well as to others dealing in
exciseable commodities liable to casualties, an extra
number of Commissioners sawn the bench to determine
the question.
It appeared from the 90.0:oneut of a ttttt ober of wit-
nesses, that 649 quarters of malt were cot front Strat-
ford, in Es-Tx, to the warehouaes of Mr. Thome*, in
Shut Thames, which were entirely destroyed by fire on
the 27th of February, on which occasion immense
quantities of grain were destroyed, and, amongst the
rest, 5211 quarters of the malt whieh hail been seat from
Stratford, on which it was proved that a duty f 25,.
per tilt:trier had been paid, and of which the complainant
now prayed the return.
A malt salesman, who had surveyed the granaries
which hail been bitant,statast, that the malt in question
had been burnt to a cinder, and was unfit for any
thing hut manure, for which purpose it might be
worth eight or ten shillings per quarter. Pigs would
torn up their noses at it. A great part of it land been
of for mannre.
Sir. Mayes, the Solicitor of the Excise, contended,
that it was a prineipl • uniformly derided and acted
upon by the Excise, that wh-never the original article
was reduced in value, for instance four-fifths, then four-
fifths of the duty should be returned, and not the lull
amount of the duty which had been paid upon it. In
the present instance it was proved, that the article had
not been utterly destroyed : hut was only deteriorated
in value, and consequently a rateable duty ought to be
returned. 'To warrant the return of the whole duty,
the article, he said, must be utterly destroyed, so as
to be of no value whatever.
A Commissioxya said, it was utterly impossible to
destroy such articles entirely ; there must hr some re-
sidue, which would always be of some value as manure,
or for other purposes.
Another Cost )11S9110:CR said, that he was of opinion,
that the article, uhich had paid duty, was so far
de-
strayed as to be utterly useless as malt, and that was
all that was required by the principle of the Act to
authorise the whole of unties to he returned.
A third Coat 3113610 Y Ea said that he had sat at that
Hoard for :tit years, and that during that time tim
practice had been entirely according to the principle
advanced by Mr. Mayo.
A fourth Commisatostza said, that he bad sat at that
Board for 24 years, and he had always understood that
the whole of the duty was returned in such cases. Ile
instanced cases where the whole of the duty had been
deteriorated, and not destroyed so as to be unfit to he
used for the purpose for which it had been first de-
signed.
After some further discussion, the Board adjudged
that the who/eq./he dirty which had been paid on the
o article proved to have been destroyed should be re-
turned. Ihe amount of the duty was stated at 7254/.

POLICK.

--••••.-

FRAUD ON JACK [ITCH.
MANFMN-House.---JORI Harmer stand charred
with forging the signature of James lintfing, to a re-
ceipt to a cheek of 101. at the banking•house of Messrs.
Walker, Everett and Co.
Mt. S,lllackhurn, of Ohl-street-road, one of the
trustees Ml* poor of St. Leonard, Shoretiitch, stated,
that on tiof 115th of March last, the prisoner ',tourist
James Rotting to the workhouse of Shoreditch, in a
state of the must abject wretchedness, he having been
visited with a severe paralytic affection ; that he was
received into the workhouse, and had there every means
of relief afforded him. A few days since information
was given to the Committee of Trusters, that Rotting
was posse-med of property, and that the parish funds
were imposed on. In consequence of this information,
Mr. Ward, one of the Overseers, sad Mr. B. were re-
quested by the Committee to investigate the case ; and
they fottud, after a diligent search, that the prisoner
had taken Rotting to his house in Webb-square, Shore-
ditch, in August last; that he bad removed with him
a considerable quantity of household garniture, toge-
ther with an iron ebest containing upwards of 2UI.
In money, and mortgage deeds for 3001. lent to one
Rolfe, a mason, at Brighton ; and that tha, prisoner
had availed bitwelf of the imbecile state of Batting's
faculties to obtain possession of the whole of this pro-