27 OCTOBER 1866, Page 21

CURRENT LITERATURE.

Our Postal and Revenue Establishments. By a Civil Servant. (Pit- man.) — The author has collected in the present volume a mass of evidence, which goes to show the extravagance and general disadvan- tage of the present mode of collecting and assessing the national revenue. He wishes to have the Post Office used for the receipt and payment of revenue money, and for the sale of stamps and granting of licenses, and he demonstrates the convenience and economy that would result from a thorough amalgamation of the Excise and Taxes branches of the Inland Revenue Department, and of the Surveying portions• of the Customs and Inland Revenue Departments. The subject re- quires knowledge of too special a character for us to venture an opinion upon the expedience of the scheme. We can only say that the writer has evidently taken pains to make up his case, and that he produces copious extracts from the blue-books and the evidence of officials of high standing in favour of his views. He holds out the promise of a considerable saving of expense, and is entitled to attention, if only on the ground of the rarity of a reformer in the ranks of the Civil Service.