18 JANUARY 1851, Page 11

OPPRESSIVE INJUSTICE IN THE CUSTOMS.

FEW things contribute so directly and forcibly to bring the Go- vernment into contempt as the total disregard of justice which is shown in the working of great departments ; but we do not re- member a more barefaced instance than that exposed in the case of Mr. W. S. Hall. The statement which has been placed before the public in the columns of the Morning Chronicle is ex parte, but there is a fulness and fairness on the face of it, which claim considerable credit. It would appear, indeed, from the very nature of the facts, that no counter-statement can quite absolve the offi- cials from the charge of indiscriminating persecution in this case. Mr. Hall is the owner of a bonding warehouse next to the Cus- tomhouse. In the pursuit of enterprise, directed by that liberal view of self-interest which imparts the best spirit to commerce, he built a warehouse, specially constructed for the utmost convenience of importers and customhouse-officers. It is well known that goods belonging to various merchants are lodged in such ware- houses, the duty being payable by the owners ; but while they are in the custody of the warehouseman, he is answerable to the Customhouse for producing the full amount of goods lodged with him, or, in default of producing the goods, for the duty that would have been payable on those goods or on so much of them as may be deficient. The position of warehouse- man is no sinecure : if he were dishonest, he would have to carry on his schemes in sight of an organized' body of watchmen ; if he is honest, he has to watch for his own protection against the dishonesty of the importer or the im- porter's servants, of the Customhouse-officers, and of his own servants—against the neglect of all those persons, which may as= some the aspect of dishonesty—even against the accidents of commerce, such' as leakage, shrinkage, &c. He is answerable for the right performance of his duties to the importer and to the Cus- tomhouse. Mr. Hall appeals to the testimony of the commercial world and of the Customhouse itself in proof of his carefully honourable behaviour during a career of forty years. Indeed, in the absence of positive proof to the contrary, mt.is so strictly the interest of a warehouseman 'to bei dorieit in his dealings, that his honesty may be presumed : he does not_ pay, the duties, so that frauds upon the revenue can give no direct prefit to him ; to make such a profit possible, he must enter into a system of collusion with importers and' their vents, and Customhouse-officers in different rands, so extensive and complicated that it would' be one of the romances of trade, far less likely to enter the brain of a practical man than of an Ainsworth or an Eusene Sue. Ho has immense property at stake, the value of which consists in the constant use of it ; but that use depends entirely upon the confidence of the trade and the perinission of the Customhouse department. To steal a fradulent profit, the fraud must be gigantic ; while the most trifling connivance at fraud would suffice todestroy the legitimate value of the property. -Under such "Circumstances, the very mos, -fives to roguery would keep a man honest.

On ii priori grounds we should be safe in assuMing Mr. Hall to be an honest man : he may be said to havean Einopean reputation, and throughout the course of forty years his honesty is attested by the unbroken confidence of the commercial world and the con- tinued permission of the Customs.

Such is the man who receivedflum the Solicitor of the Customs a letter, dated on the 19th December last, calling upon him to pay up for deficiencies in stock, within a week, under pain of losing the bonding privileges of his warehouse; the deficiencies being set forth'ina scheditle. On the face of it,- this schedule wears that est:lead solemn respectability which Belongs to the unimpassioned fignres of mere-ant& instruments,. offieial tables, and statistical mysteries ; but scrutinized, it is one of the most amazing samples of impudent practical joldng. It will be borne ,in mind' that Mr. Basil is celled-upon to pay the duties Over-due within a week : there could be no great difficulty in the payment, since the total amount is only 15T. 9s. 2d.; but what does the reader think when he learns that, this little bill extends baokivards over a period of twenty-two years. The most recent transaction included in it is not later than the 3d of November 1840. The bill of dues includes only six items, yet the goods alleged to be deficient were imported by sit different firms. So that, to find proof against each'of these cbarges, Mr Hall is called upon to reopen his accounts with six different firms, ten, fifteen, and.twenty years ago, -and to justify, 'at that distant date, the exact number of gallons of wine, and '""common glass bottles," in certain baskets that" found a lodging in his inn for goods. He must, for example, prove that 'the wine;- stock belonging to J. Herman, Which left his inn for geeds on 'the 26th-of June 1828, was not deficient, by "-One cask "three gallons Lisbon wine"; or in default of such proof neti gave, latent among the archives of 1828, he must pay to her Ma.jesty's Customs the sum of 17s. 4d. It cannot, we say, be the difficulty of paying such sums that provokes the: natural resistance "of Mr. Hall : if Queen 'Victoria were in want of a little ready cash, lend were to send to Mr. Hall the briefest note asking him to lend her or even give her 178. 4d., there can be no doubt he would send a round sovereign, or probably a banknote for 201., with the utmost satisfaction : but °nee let her Majesty's Customs: make good such a claim to 178. 4d. as due twenty-two years ago, and there would be little check upon

demands for Weer sums at shorter or even longer dates. .

Nei, on the face of this schedule, one question will suggest it- self to the most uninitiated reader : how came it that the officers of her Majesty's Customs suffered these claims to lapse for so great a length of time ? " Nullum tempus oceurrit regi "but so gross an infraction of that spirit of equity which dictated Statute of Limitations cannot be perpetrated, even in the name of royal au- thority, without discredit.

The explanation of this enigma does not diminish, but increases the discredit. The items in the schedule were not incinded in de-' mends made on Mr. Hall in September 1843, November 1844, and December 1844, all of which were abandoned. If a tradesman were guilty of these random and untenable demands, at suahslates, he would be suspected of more than the • " confusion and imper- fection " which Mr. Hall justly charges upon the Cuetomhouse system. The first item in the schedule of this last account is for duties short payable on goods imported by Messrs. Redhead and Spiers : Tye, the clerk of that firm, was detected in a collusion with the officers of the Customs to deceive the warehouse-keeper and defraud the revenue ; and now, twenty-two years after date, the masters of Tye's accomplices call upon Mr. Hall to pay 31.10s. 3d. By the Warehousing Act, the -period allowed for warehousing goods, except by special extension under a Treasury warrant, is three years ; the Commissioners of Customs are enjoined to recover the duties within that 'period ; the importer, proprietor, or con- signee, to pay the duty on deficiency, if that shall be suspected to arise from fraud and not from waste in the warehouse. Statute and justice therefore equally exonerate the warehouse-keeper from these fishing retrospective claims.

, But there is a still worse element in this monstrous example of official injustice. Mr. Hall complains, that throughout his whole career he has had to spur on the Boardof Customs in renderingits system precise ; that he has had as it were to flog the officers to their duty with the scourge of importunity. It was at his in- stance that the practice of releasing -goods from bond- .on the verbal order of a Customhouse-Oftleer; without written, attestation that the importer had paid the duties, was discontinued. He has convicted officers of the Customs of demanding duty on goods a second time, no doubt through some fault of entry in the offieial books ; and to *s it seems quite possible that the duties whenfirst

, . paid were poexesseu. ay some clerfs in the department... Mr. all has found it impossible to bring the officers uponshiseexaminings

floor, at, proper times. He cannot obtain the signattire of the proper officers to his examining-hook; and in a protest fi§livered on the 1st of January last he. states, that wit the' eceding six months, 5827 packages had 'been permitfe and". blivered without that formality ! The fact appears to Ik'S-.1 n,111# the Customhouse practice is a chaos ; and. tesevineWthiei tue of 'the department, Mr. Hall is celled, upon to risefniten nty years' date for deficiencies in the levy or the enteibilbf the dfli ittl servants. Mr Hall appeals from the Board of' Cti*ins to' he Trry Board ; and it is to be hoped that that snore` dig,nitint will see the policy of obviating such scandals for the The public has more than one interest in the matter. Prad eeS'sb lily calculated to bring the Executive into contempt cannot but he in- jurious to the, public service. The same disorder that entails. so much inconvenience on Mr. gall felikely to entail gwalo0"upon the revenue. It is' Well' knOwn that the enstome -oittoof. the departments most vitiated-by the abuse -of-patronage : it is said that reforms have taken placeesehich twilit gra:dually purify the st n but if it is still subjee to,,ee depraved 11R RptiqW,t4101? by, r Hall, it wouldbe r the public adVantesge; department in, a more Cannery mannerof Couree pensation to existing interests." At all events, such a'"ss as he has made cannot be suffered to pees without some

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step taken to meet him with refutation or riedrees.