to be kept, a document in the nature of a money either to the Exchequer or to the re"voucher," to be signed and in like manner ceiver-general of the excise in London. forwarded to the board of excise in Edinburgh, and should also send an abstract to the collector of excise residing in the district from whence the export is to be made : 5thly, That no debenture should be paid until it had been previously checked by a comparison either with the voucher or the abstract, as the case may be: Lastly, That if after a reasonable period from the close of the year it shall be found a greater number of packing certificates have been granted than debentures paid, inquiry should be made of the trader whose goods appear to have been packed and not exported, with a view either to rectify any omission of his to apply for the drawback legally due to him, or to enable such an endorsement to be made on the voucher as to the cause of the non-exportation of the goods as will be sufficient to cancel it, and thus balance the account. The practice of sending bills of this description to an agent in London prevails also in Ireland. In our Seventh Report, we have stated that the intervention of this officer appears to us altogether unnecessary, and we have therefore recommended the abolition of the office: the same remark applies equally to Scotland. The practice also of allowing the collectors to draw fictitious bills on the cashier for the amount of the bills on the naval and military departments appears to us very objectionable. The collectors of excise, on transmitting these bills to the cashier or collector in Edinburgh, should have immediate credit for the amount as cash, subject, as in the case of other bills, to their return for irregularity; and the cashier or collector should in like manner transmit them as cash to the receiver-general of excise in Loudon. We think it should be the duty of the receivergeneral's department there, to receive the amount from the army and navy pay offices, and give credit to the excise revenue in Scotland with as little delay as the forms of office will does with bills on private bankers, which for every practical purpose they may be considered as altogether resembling. The effect of these regulations will be to bring the payment of excise drawbacks under the same officers, and to subject them to regulations similar in principle to those under which the duties are collected, to which, in fact, draw-permit; acting, in fact, with these bills as he backs appear to us very little inferior in point of importance; it will at the same time enable the collectors and board of excise to be aware of the demands that are coming upon them; and whilst we are satisfied that it will very materially improve the existing check over payments of this description, it will, in our opinion, remove the only well-founded objection that has been urged to the discontinuance of the principal part of the excise officers employed in the export department, and the incorporation of the remainder with the ordinary establishment. ARMY AND NAVY BILLS. With a view to the convenience of the of ficers of the army and navy on half pay, and other persons receiving allowances from the military and naval departments, it is the practice, sanctioned by various acts of parliament, to make the bills, sent into different parts of the Country from these departments respectively, payable in cash by the collectors of the public revenue. The amount paid by the excise department in Scotland under this head, for the year ended 5th July, 1824, was 264,5227. 15s. 3 d. It has hitherto been the practice for the several collectors, after these bills have been paid, to transmit them to the cashier of excise in Edinburgh, and to draw on him a fictitious bill for the amount; the cashier of the excise carries the amount of the fictitious bill to the credit of the proper excise duty, and sends the original bills on the military and naval departments to an agent in London. This agent, after receiving the amount, communicates with the board of excise in Edinburgh, and pays the ACCOUNTS. The points under this head to which we consider it of importance that your Lordships' attention should be directed, are, 1st, The unnecessary complexity of the system of keeping and making up the excise accounts. 2d, The period of the year at which the excise accounts at present terminate. 3d, The accounts periodically required from the several collectors of excise. 4th, The mode of paying the salaries, and the incidental charges of the department. Complexity of Accounts. Our attention was early called to the system on which the excise accounts are at present kept, and our examinations have satisfied us that this system is susceptible of much improvement. The most material error appears to arise from the attempt that is made to ascertain the expense of collecting each separate duty. How far this may have been practicable in the infancy of the system, when only two or three duties existed, it is of little importance to inquire. It will be at once obvious to your Lordships, that, as at present, each officer has many traders of different descriptions under survey at the same time, and as these traders necessarily vary from day to day, as well in number as in the quantity of goods manufactured, no system of account, however elaborate, can so appropriate the officer's time to the different duties ment. as to afford a basis for apportioning with accu- tical purpose, materially to mislead the judgracy his salary and charges to each. Even where, as it sometimes happens, an officer is confined to the survey of one or two articles, it is impracticable to ascertain the proportionable charges incurred on account of his inspection, the receipt of the money, or the ultimate examination and audit of the accounts, which form so considerable a portion of the expense of col-alone given; to this is added a general account lection. In the annual finance accounts now presented to the House of Commons, improved in conse quence of a Report from a Parliamentary Committee, which investigated that subject in the session of 1822, the gross produce received, and the drawbacks paid out of each excise duty, are of the expenses of collection, subdivided under to appropriate those expenses to particular duties. This account is evidently as much as can be useful or necessary; and we recommend, therefore, that all the arrangements now made with a view to any more specific appropriation be at once discontinued. With a view to this separation, however, it different heads, without, however, any attempt is the practice in England, when an additional officer is required for the collection of a particular duty in any district, to direct the payment of his salary out of that duty, and so to continue that payment, in what way soever the officer may thereafter be employed, and even although at a future period no such duty is payable within the district. If, for example, an officer be placed on the establishment, and his salary directed to be paid out of the tobacco duties, and it should happen that no money on account of tobacco is received by the collector, he is instructed to borrow the amount from any other duty in his hands, and to draw a fictitious bill on the cashier of the excise in London, the amount of which is posted to the debit of the tobacco duties. 1 A similar practice was adopted in Scotland: as, however, the amount received under each head of duty was comparatively inconsiderable, it happened so frequently that the officer's salary was to be paid out of the duty on which there was no receipt, that the system of borrowing and drawing bills became exceedingly troublesome, and produced much confusion. Under these circumstances, about twenty years since, the collectors were directed to pay the salaries of the officers, and other charges of management, out of the money in their hands arising from the most productive duty. It follows, according to the Scotch practice, that if in one year there is in a district a considerable receipt on account of the tobacco duties, all the charges will appear to have arisen for collecting the duties on tobacco; if in the next year malt be the most productive, the charges will, on the contrary, appear to have arisen on malt. This division pervades not only the accounts of the collectors, but is carried on through the accountant's office, the comptroller's, the auditor's office, and ultimately the Exchequer and pipe offices. That which ought to be a simple debtor and creditor cash account, is thus made into eighteen or twenty distinct parts; and the inspection of as many accounts current becomes necessary before the actual cash balance in the hands of any one collector can be ascertained. In short, the whole system of account is rendered complex and unsatisfactory, and the labour greatly increased to produce a result which, whether we consider the English or Scotch plan, is not only unsatisfactory, but altogether delusive, and tending, if relied on for any prac The vouchers to which we have referred in the former part of this Report will enable the accountants in the excise office to ascertain the gross amount charged on account of each duty; it is therefore only necessary that the collectors should be required to shew what money has been received in discharge of those vouchers; and their account may, in all other respects, be a debtor and creditor cash account. It would tend further to clearness and accu racy, if the collectors were directed to distinguish, in their first or weekly account, between the amount of those vouchers where the duty charged is due by law, and the amount of those vouchers where credit is given. At present, the latter are specially reported to the board on each occasion as "arrears,” when in fact the amount is not payable, and ought therefore rather to be carried on to the voucher of the succeeding period or “round ;” this may be done by a slight alteration in the "voucher" for those duties where the extended credit is given (see amended Form, Appendix No. 27); this altera. tion also will enable the collector to receive the money from the abstract sent to him, without taking his leger, a very voluminous book, which he is at present under the necessity of carrying to each place of receipt. With a view to give effect to the system we have proposed, we annex in the Appendix the form of a proper weekly account for transmission to Edinburgh, together with the forms of a quarterly or round account current, and of a leger. These forms have been prepared under our direction; the weekly account, it appears to us, will contain all the information necessary to enable the proper accountants to ascertain the gross receipt of each duty, and the drawbacks and the different expenses paid, so as to furnisà the board of excise, your Lordships, and ult mately parliament, with the accounts respectively necessary, and thus render any further division or separation in the future progress of the excise accounts altogether superfluous. Excise Year. The excise year at present doses on the 5th July, whilst the accounts of the other public departments are made up to the 5th January. Our examinations have satisfied us, that there is no sufficient reason for this difference; and as it is productive of considerable inconvenience, we recommend that measures be taken for an assimilation, by making up a half-year's account specially to the 5th January next, and continuing afterwards to make up the excise accounts annually to that day. Periodical Accounts. would render less necessary the special examination of superior officers from Edinburgh, a proceeding that is always attended with considerable expense: under these circumstances, as soon as the collectors are so far relieved from a part of their present multifarious duties as to have a reasonable time to carry this article of their instructions into effect, we recommend that it be rigidly enforced. Salaries. The salaries in the different districts are at "underpresent paid upon what is called an "stood establishment," founded merely on usage; a proceeding very irregular, and tend Various periodical accounts are now required from the collectors, which are not necessary; their ordinary accounts, if properly kept, furnishing the information required. The quar-ing to preclude an accurate check on the collecterly return of rewards paid to the military, and of money paid on convictions or compromises, and the annual return of the establishment of each collection, are of this description. It appears to us essentially necessary, to enable officers in the different districts to give their time as much as possible to the survey of traders (by far the most important part of their duty), that no accounts should be required from them not absolutely requisite; and that the form of such as are required should be as simple as possible. Whenever any account can be framed from documents existing in Edinburgh, recourse should be had to those documents, and not to the district officers. An instance of a want of attention to this latter point occurs in a recent order (19 February, 1824) issued to the several collectors, requiring them to send to the board, every quarter, a comparative account of the duties received in that quarter, and in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, accompanied by their remarks on any increase or diminution that may have taken place. tors' accounts. We recommend that in future the establishment for each district should be made out in duplicate, and signed by the commissioners of excise; one copy to be lodged in the office of the accountant, and the other in the office of the comptroller in Edinburgh; and that every alteration in this establishment should be in like manner from time to time certified to those officers respectively. In lieu of paying the different officers according to the number of days in each "round," as at present, it would avoid troublesome calculations, if they were paid one moiety only of each quarter's salary. We think also the adop tion of printed forms of pay-lists, to be obtained by the storekeeper, properly stamped, instead of requiring eight separate receipts from each officer annually, would give a desirable facility to the collector's business, and assist in the ulterior examination of his accounts. Lastly, it frequently happens, that if an of ficer be removed in the middle of a round, he has to travel a considerable distance to obtain Nothing can be more desirable than that the from the collector his salary to the day of his board should constantly watch the progressive departure. This inconvenience may be altoreceipt of the revenue, and call on the collectors gether avoided, and the accounts simplified, by to explain the cause of any diminution or in- establishing a rule, that an officer removed from crease. Instead, however, of interrupting the one collection to another shall cease pay at the more important labours of this officer for the collection which he leaves, from the close of the preparation of the account in question, it might last round, and commence pay from that day in have been done with equal ease in the account- the collection to which he is sent, unless, from aut's office in Edinburgh, by clerks at compara- unnecessary delay, or other circumstances, the tively inconsiderable salaries, and afterwards special directions of the board may be necesforwarded to the several collectors for any sary. explanations that may have been required. It is solely to the labour occasioned to the several collectors by the numerous and com- The incidental expenses of the different ofplicated accounts at present required from ficers for turnpikes, ferries, &c. are at present Liem, that we can attribute their entire neg-paid quarterly, and when they exceed 20s. an lect of that part of their instructions which oath is required as to their correctness. directs them to survey traders occasionally, in opinion, it is more desirable to pay these exorder to ascertain the quantity of goods manu- penses every "round," as the collector will be factured, and thus to check the conduct as well enabled more accurately to check the amount of the supervisors as of the officers employed. when they are brought under his notice, within The occasional inspection of an officer in a a short time after having been incurred; on the situation so responsible appears to us highly adoption of this regulation, also, we think a desirable for the proper collection of the re-certificate to the effect of the oath now required venue, and if systematically carried on, it may very properly be substituted, it being un INCIDENTAL PAYMENTS. In our derstood, that a false certificate will subject the legal spirits consumed in the town of Inver. party to immediate dismissal. ness than in any three years before. He has "had no complaints: there may be some few "alterations that the distillers desire in the NEW DISTILLERY LAW. Having thus stated to your Lordships the" law; but in the general operation, thinks it defects which, from our inquiries in Scotland," is sufficient to enable the legal to compete have appeared to us to exist in respect to the "with the illegal distillers." receiving, paying, and accounting for the excise Mr. Anderson, Collector of Elgin, states, revenue, and suggested the proper remedies," He thinks the opinion is greatly changed in we proceed to call your attention to the opera-"favour of legal spirits; it is coming more tion of the new Distillery Act (4 Geo. IV. c. 94), " generally into consumption." He informed passed to carry into effect the suggestions of our the commission also, that the difference in the Fifth Report; asubject into which we shall enter price between legal and illegal whiskey was by at some length, involving as it does an extent of no means considerable. revenue exceeding one-fourth of the whole produce of the excise in Scotland. It is very gratifying to be enabled to refer your Lordships to the evidence in the Appendix, as containing information the most satisfactory on this subject. A deputation of Scotch distillers, with whom we had a conference at Glasgow, state, “That the present regulations, "by the removal of restrictions on the process "of manufacture, give full scope to every "trader to exert his ingenuity and industry to "the utmost, in preparing spirits of superior "quality, and suited to the taste of the con"sumer, and leave the trade open to all classes "of the community; thus affording the benefit "of a free competition. “The demand for legally-made spirits has "greatly increased; illicit distillation has, in a 66 great measure, been suppressed, and distillers "who were formerly in the trade, have, during "the present year, in general manufactured "double the quantity of spirits produced by "them in former years." A similar deputation in Edinburgh state, "That the additional experience of six months "confirms the opinion previously expressed of "the efficiency of the present distillery law, 66 The total quantity of spirits on which duty was paid for the year previous to the passing of the act (ended 10th October, 1823), was 1,982,783, and for the subsequent year (ended 10th October, 1824), 5,260,054 gallons. Satisfied, under these circumstances, that the act proceeds on a good principle, and that the reduction of the duty has been most beneficial, we have considered the practical details of the measure with a view to any alterations that experience might have suggested. The first and most material of these, relates to the drawback on malt. It will be in your Lordships' recollection, that with a view to remove the objections to the use of malt, and thereby leave the manufacturer at liberty to employ the materials most conducive to superior quality, we proposed that such a portion of the malt duty should be drawn back, on its manufacture into spirits, as would leave the duty the same on spirits made from malt as from raw grain. To effect this object, the act, after imposing a duty of 2s. on each gallon of Scotch and Irish spirits, and requiring a portion of malt, equal at least to one-tenth of a bushel, to be used in its manufacture, grants an allow ance or abatement of 1s. for every gallon of spirits made altogether from malt, provided two gallons of spirits are produced for each bushel of as affording, by the accuracy and liberality of "its enactments, the strongest encouragement "to manufacture the finest spirits from home-malt consumed. 66 grown corn. "That in consequence of the reduction of "duty, and from the operation of this improved 66 system of distillation in Scotland, the con"sumption of legally-distilled spirits is im"mensely increased." Under this act, the distillers in Scotland have almost invariably used malt, and claimed the abatement; and as our renewed inquiries have only tended to confirm our opinion, that malt spirits are best adapted to the taste of the consumer, and that without their manufacture, no As it regards the revenue, the evidence of successful competition with the illicit dealer can Mr. Cornwall, one of the local Commissioners of be maintained, it is not our intention to propose Excise, and of Mr. Watson and Mr. Anderson, any alteration in the principle of this drawCollectors of that revenue, is equally satis- back. factory. It is material to observe, however, that there Mr. Cornwall states, " Its success has been is on every 100 bushels of barley, when made "very great-it seems to suit the purpose ex-into malt, a considerable increase, which, under “tremely well; the returns we have got shew the present system of collecting the malt duty "that there is a very great increase in the con- (explained in our Eighth Report), is not charged "sumption of spirits, on which the duty has with the tax. From the evidence annexed to "been paid, far beyond any thing we had that report, it appears, that where the malt is "before." of good quality, the increase is seldom less than seven bushels on every ninety-nine paying duty, and we have been informed it is frequently con Mr. Watson, Collector of Inverness, states, siderably more, extending even to twenty or fraudulently manufactured, and not that the thirty per cent. duty has been actually paid, the inconvenience will be removed, and the revenue, in our opinion, equally safe, if the certificate state, that the duty on the malt has been paid or secured by bond to be paid, as the case may be. If when a malster pays duty on ninety-nine bushels of malt, at the nominal rate of 2s. 6d. per bushel, he, in fact, obtains 106 bushels, capable of producing the quantity of spirits required by the act, it is obvious the duty on such malt is at once reduced to about 2s. 4d. per bashel, and that the drawback on spirits founded on the estimate of 2s. 6d. will be inaccurate, and will give an advantage to the manufacturer of malt spirits not intended by the law. 3dly, It is found that maltsters frequently obtain certificates that they have paid duty on malt, when the malt is not in fact sent or intended to be sent to a distiller: these certificates are openly sold to distillers, and afford a cover to any excess in their malt stock, as well as to Whether a complete remedy may be found for any malt that may have been fraudulently introthis evil, by any alteration in the mode of levy-duced; a drawback is thus obtained on such ing the duty on malt, will be a subject for our malt, and the beneficial effects that were exconsideration when the duty on that article pected from the certificates are in a great degree, shall be under review in our inquiries into the if not altogether, done away. English excise; in the mean time, however, In order to prevent this in Scotland and Ireits effects will be materially modified by the re-land (where the practice is either for distillers duction of the drawback or abatement from 18. to manufacture their own malt, or purchase it to 11d. per gallon, so as to allow for an increase in the manufacture of malt equal to nine per cent. And as we have no reason to believe that malt increased to any greater extent will produce the quantity of spirits required by the act, we recommend also, with a view to prevent the use of such malt, that the certificate which at present accompanies the malt used for distillation, should certify that it is of good and merchantable quality, and that, in the opinion of the officer, the increase has not exceeded nine per cent; the officer having authority to refuse this certificate unless the above facts are made apparent to him; and we propose likewise, that distillers who make their own malt should be allowed certificates for the bonâ fide quantity manufactured, provided the increase does not exceed 9 per cent. The second point, having reference to this drawback, relates rather to a matter of inconvenience than of loss to the revenue. The act requires, in order to enable the manufacturer to obtain the abatement or drawback on any malt used in the distilleries, that the duty shall be actually paid, and a certificate produced from the excise officer to this effect. directly from maltsters), it should be enacted, that officers of excise are not to grant certificates, unless the name of the distiller be given to whom the malt is to be sent, and that any certificate fraudulently demanded, obtained, or sold, or any omission to deliver malt according to the certificate, should subject the party to a penalty equal to three times the duty on the quantity of malt specified. If, in addition to these enactments, the excise officers be instructed, when the maltster resides in a different district from the distiller, to inform the supervisor of the distiller's district of the particulars of the certificate granted, in order that it may be ascertained that malt of proper quality is duly brought into the distiller's stock, we think that the revenue will be to a considerable degree, if not altogether, protected from frauds on the malt drawback, and that all ground of complaint on the part of the Irish manufacturers (relating as they do entirely to the alleged frauds) will be removed. 4thly, Instead of paying a drawback or abatement of 1s. per gallon (or whatever sum may be ultimately fixed) on account of the malt consumed, and afterwards receiving a duty of 2s. 3d. per gallon on malt spirits, the revenue would be satisfied, and much trouble avoided, if a duty less the amount of the drawback were paid on spirits manufactured from malt, on their being taken out of the warehouse for home consumption. The drawback on the malt to be allowed only on those spirits that are exported to foreign parts. The malt laws, however, give a considerable credit to the maltster, and the excise accounts and collections are arranged for the payment of the duty when the credit expires; much inconvenience is therefore found to arise, as well to the officer as to the manufacturer, from compelling the one to receive and the other to pay the duty at uncertain times, and in small quan- This alteration will greatly simplify the excise tities, as the distillers may from time to time accounts, and avoid the receipt of duty from the want malt. manufacturer, and the immediate repayment to This provision appears to have been intro-him of part of that duty as a drawback on the duced to meet an existing enactment in the malt malt used, from which no practical benefit is at laws of Ireland, which precludes the removal of present derived. any malt before the duty is paid. In our Eighth The second part of the act that appears to reReport we have recommended the repeal of this quire alteration, and to which therefore we wish part of the Irish law; and as the object contem-to direct your Lordships' attention, is that which plated is to ascertain that the malt has not been prohibits the removal of spirits from the ware |