The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-09-30 00:00:00

(Coxrespondent of yesterday's Herald.)

Before alluding more in extenso to the means by which the
receipts of the customs have been so materially diminished
by illegal and irregular transactions and connivances,it is a
duty we owe to a great majority of landing waiters and other
officers of the landing department, to say that for honour,
probity, and integrity, they stand beyond syspicion. Far is
it from our intention, because one delinquent be found

among
a a score of employee of the department alluded to, to
say a word that would induce the belief that the general body
was deficient in honesty. As the names of those discovered
discovered to have been mixed up with irregular and illegal '
Practices must be given in the course of the narrative, inno-
cent parties will be, as they ought of course to be; relieved
from the slightest taint of suspicion in the public mind.
The name of the party already dismissed the service is
Mr. James Hastings, his participation in the frauds being
fully established, and his securities will, therefore, be called
upon to mrke good his deficiency to the extent of their
liability. The suspensions now in force are Mr. William
Burnby, Mr. R. Flomersham, Mr. J. E. Foote, Mr. Lang,
Mr. Poole, and Mr. Rolls. It may be necessary to remark
that some of these parties will, no doubt, be reinstated.
As respects Mr. Burnby, the following facts and circum-
stances connected with the present and previous affair will
tend forcibly to illustrate and prove the assertion made iu the
former article upon this subject, of the favouritism ex-
hibited by the commissioners, and the readiness that
has been shownto let scot free those who are in fa-
vour with the heads of the department. In the month
of December, 1840, the drawback on a large quantity
of wine was attempted to be received by a party
who had employed an agent of known respectability and in-
tegrity to make i
the necessary *.
y entry. Suspicion being ex
c;- by a trifling irregularity u the papers about to be passed,
an investigation was made, when it was discovered that the
whole was an attempt at fraud. The name of Mr. Burnby,
as the gauger of the imaginary wine, appeared in the papers.
This officer was interrogated by the surveyor-general, Mr.
Dowding, and the case was brought before the commissioners,
but the result of this transaction was not permitted to tran-
spire; and. aithough it was never doubted that Mr. Burnby
had some knowk dge of the irregularity complained of, still
he was retainee, n his situation until the present discovery
was made.
It would appear from what has since escaped of the secret
sittings of the board, that this Mr. Burnby has at last, to
save himself (for there is every reason to believe that he has
a promise of indemnity from ulterior steps), turned approver,
and as such has been and is giving evidence against some of
his colleagues.
The first clue of suspicion of these frauds was afforded by
the examination that took piace in the Court of Bankruptcysome six months ago under the fiat issued against the now
noted silk-manufacturing firm of Messrs. Williams and
Mottram, as will be presently shown. The Government, it
is imagined, have bad some facts laid before them tending to
raise suspicions that frauds of the character now in course of
description were of usual occurrence at the water-side, or
the appointment of Mr. How to the new office of inspector-
general, to supervise the acting officers, would not have been
made. In the discovery of frauds upon drawbacks on wine,
three distinct instances are acknowledged to by Burnby,
Homersham, and Hastings, a discharged servant of the Lon-
don Dock Company acting as merchant on their behalf, it
being understood that a fair division of the profits of the ope-
ration should take place. The amount confessed to have been
received by these parties upon this transaction is between
£6OO and £7OO. As it often happens in cases of fraud, when
the coadjutors fall out or are discovered, recrimination is the
order of the day. Another mode of defeating the revenue of
the country adopted by this officer, whose name and acts we
have been commenting upon, is in the fabrication of what is
called `• quakers" or " dummies," as a substitute for spices
or other valuables about to be shipped for export. A. dis-
chared foreman from the F warehouse (spice floor) of the St.
Katharine's Dock, named Quadling, was employed to make
these " quaker" or " dummies" at the suggestion of Burnby,
one of the landing-waiters, a relative of his, said to hold a
commission in the royal navy, though professing to be a
silk merchant carrying on an extensive trade, had promised
a berth of £3 per week in the event of his (the " quaker
maker") being discharged from his situation. Discharged
he was, but whether the promised situation was provided we
cannot assert.
Connected with the silk, lace, and glove trade, it has long
been a known fact among those connected with this branch
of custom-house business that the favourable connection
which junior partners or other confidential servants of such
firms have made with the officers, have enabled them to su-
persede the licensed custom-house agent by the many ma-
noeuvres which they in concert couid practice, either to get
the goods out at a duty trifling in the extreme, or without
any duty at all. It is the knowledge of this connection which
has led many of these agents to cease soliciting the business
of many houses in the silk trade, being well aware of their
,inability to give srtisfaction to their principals, or compete
with the parties who in their business transactions were inti-
mate with the revenue officers.
The case adduced in the last notice relative to the fraud
practised by the exchange of packages, which there can be no
doubt has been extensively carried on by these parties, must
have been startling to those unacquainted with this depart-
ment of water-side practice. Another, equally simple in
its process, will, however, satisfy the most sceptical that
the modes by which the revenue can, and has been
defrauded to a vast amount, are various, and are always al-
terable at the pleasure of those concerned in them so as not
to arouse the suspicion of third parties by the oft-repeated
practice of one deception. A case marked and numbered,
say B 2, containing silk for drawback, is sent to the legal
quays, is there examined and " made shipped" by the
searcher, alter which it is put
on board a lighter for transport
to the vessel. In the same lighter is another case similarly
marked and numbered, containing cotton or free goods,
entered in a different exporter's name ; shortly afterwards
the exporter of the last named package applies to have his
case made " Short shipped" (that is, to be returned), where,
by the understood change, the case of silks. is re-landed and
delivered in the place of the case of cottons, which is in due
course exported, while the drawback is received on the pack-
age of silk. This fraud could at any time be prosecuted
without the aid of the officer, but by his connivance could
be much more easily effected.
It would be sufficient for present purposes to close here till
further facts can be stated, were it not felt to be of promi-
nent importance to carry the narrative somewhat further, in
order to prove the system of fraud to be one from which the
revenue for a long time suffered. The course the investiga-
tion has taken, and the large number of witnesses called to
support the charges already brought against the parties who
figure as the principals in the violation of their duties already
described, precludes, for the moment, giving the facts in de-
tail which will subsequently be elicited to establish, in the
strongest possible light, the connection of many firms in this
metropolis as the recipients, in due proportion with the re-
venue officers, of the profits of the frauds now underinves-
tigation.

The public, by occasional paragraphs appearing within the
last three weeks in the daily prints, were in some degree pre-
pared for disclosures which would effect interests identical
with the mercantile world, but they were hardly, it is con-
sidered, prepared to meet the astounding statement, that, by
the continued assistance of these frauds, parties have been
enabled to carry on a system of business, which, while allow-
ing them to supply the retail dealer at " cutting " prices, also
allowed them to be his superior in the ordinary walks of the
trade at even a greater reduction than they had at first sub-
mitted to.

Hereafter stronger truths will be furnished to prove the
corruption existing in the management of the revenue, and
among some of its dependents, and there can be no doubt
that when these shall have been widely disseminated, legisla-
tive interferences will be called into action to prevent, in fu-
ture, the posibility of the recurrence of such abuses.
The court of inquiry at present constituted, and under which
the investigation is proceeding, consists of the Hon. G. R.
Dawson, and Surveyors General Messrs. Dowding & Weston.
It is generally believed that, in addition to the examina-
tion which these gentlemen may make, as the representa-
tives of the Board of Commissioners of Customs, the Go-
vernment will also direct the revenue commissioners, who
have, till very lately, been engaged in an inquiry with a view
of improving the Liverpool
branch of Customs, to take up
the subject as a topic of discussion in the report which they
may hereafter have to make upon the London department.
How well the revenue commissioners would be able to
grapple with this question may be fairly inferred from the
consideration which. it appears they have given to the con-
nection of the landing officers and the merchants in their Li-
verpool report, not long issued from the House of Com-
mons. In that document they allude to the conference they
had with the merchants on the scale of remuneration
paid to the landing-waiters, searchers, &c., and it is
there said, that " they (meaning the merchants, do
not believe that this system would ever produce the for-
mer evils of fees paid by the merchants to the officers; nor
do they admit that the work would be slurred over, or exe-
cuted with undue haste, and that thus facility to commit
frauds and to occasion mistakes injurious to the revenue,
would be the result," They reiterate Mr, Huskisson's as-
sertion, that the adoption of this system would be a saving
of time in unloading vessels of three days'in ten, and stren-
uously maintain that either a greater " number of landing..
waiters must, be employed, or means be adopted for causing
greater exertion to be put forth by the out-door department
of the Customs. On the other hand, not only do commissio-
ners of customs repeat the arguments which they have former-
ly advanced in deprecation of the part salary and part fee system
of payment of landing-waiters, but their practical officers in
London and in Liverpool remonstrate in the strongest man-
ner against a recurrence to it. They say it perils the reve-
nue, and gives rise to neglect and inconvenience of all kinds ;
that it turns the officer into the head clerk of the merchant,
and induces him to act as such, and to take an improper
share in the saperintendence of the unloading of vessels."
It is understood that as the investigation proceeds, though
tardily, fresh facts are brought to notice showing the laxity
with which this important branch of revenue has been ma_
naged.

A TOUGH J 01.3.-" My brethren," said an American
preacher descanting on the difficulties of the sinner, " it is a
very easy task to throw a skiff over Niagara Falls, but a tre-
mendous job to row it back again."

" Oh, my
dear sir," said a poor sufferer to a dentist,
" that is the second wrong tooth you have pulled out!"
4, very sorry, sir," said the blundering operator, " but as
there were only three when I began, I'm sure to be right
next time !" _

1217.—TTENhrMeeEfiNr-s°t-Fr-a\lter,4tlthreeSsitelcltitdN-Erastse, San A-
d--• --
: sssEtpor's.
four third-rate men-of-war are ordered
TuCZol'A"l-1
ward at this yard, ready for commissioning.to be brought for-
are reported as being the destination of lndia and China
some of them.
FATAL LEAP FROM SUNDERLAND-BRIDGE.—On
evening, John Thompson, tailor Friday
, of Sunderland, in a drunken
freak, declared that he would that
, by jumping off Sunderl nd- night rival Smith, the
a bridge, which rash act he
performed. He was followed by a person who had heard
him boast of his intention
to do so, at the same , who strove to persuade him not
time
considering that Thompson was
not sincere, and that he would not attempt it. In this, how-
ever, he was mistaken as Thompson pulled off his coat, and
ascended the railingof
the
bridge,
while his companion and
adviser was a short distance behind him. Assistance was
called for, but • before it jumped down
could be effective he
He
from the bridge •
picked np b - into the river, upwards of 100 feet. was
y the police boat, and taken to a neighbouring
Public-house and
a surgeon sent for. It was that he
had received'
such injuries from the fall as to leave no hope
of his recovery. He died the eame night. —Tyne Mercury.
A STORM—CLOSING A PLEASURE EXCITRSION.—WeII,
that is very extraordinary—Rain—rain—rain ! All the eyes
of heaven were bright as bright might be—the sky was blue
as violets—that braided whiteness, that here and there floated
like a veil on the brow of night, was all that recalled the'
memory of clouds—and as for the moon, no faintest halo
yellowed round her orb, that seemed indeed " one perfect
chrysolite;"—yet while all the winds seemed laid asleep till
morn, and beauty to have chained all the elements into peace
—overcast in a moment is the firmament—an evanishing has
g on
left it blank as mist—there is a fast, thick, pattering -
i the
•n
—and
woods—yes, rain—rain—rai ere we reach
woo Bowness,
the party will be wet through to their skins. Nay, matters
getting still more serious—for was lightning—yea,
h are ge there g tning—yea,
lightning ! Ten seconds ! and hark, very respectable thun-
der ! With all our wisdom, we have not been
—or we should have known, when we saw
weather-wise
it,
sunset. Only look now towards the we t an electrical
s
Noah's Ark—a magnificent spectacle; and . There floats
That far-off sullen sound proclaims now for the flood.
means that sighing and moaning and cataracts. And what
cliffs? See—see how the sheet li htmuttering up among the
shore all tumbling with foaming g ning shows the long lake
there—but here there is not a
sr
breakers. A strong wind is
ath.
the lake are bowing their head But the woods across
is in a tumult—the storm coin sto the blast. Windermere
and now we are in the very es flying on wings all abroad--
and
is hurrying heart of the hurricane. See, in
may be on the lake • and many a light—for the people fear. we
, faithful Billy,
ing his life-boat to go to depend on't, is launch-
venture. But soft—our assistance. Well, this is an ad-
is in such darkness whatth ails our argand lamp ! Our study
midst of a at we cannot see our paper—in the
a flash of lightning, thunder-storm we conclude, and retire to bed by
g.---Reereations of Chridophfr North.

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