CHAP. XIV.

The Powers and Functions of His Majesty's Commissions of Customs and Excise, as they apply to the Police of the River Thames, and the Port of London. The perplexed State of the Laws of the Customs-General Summary of the Statute Law on this subject; as it relates-1st. to Merchants, Masters of Ships, &c.-2d. to Revenue Officers.

T

HE Establishment of the Board of CUSTOMS is employed, not for purposes of Revenue alone, but also for carrying into effect the Laws of Navigation and Trade; upon which the security of the Empire, and the protection and encouragement of its Commerce and Manufactures, essentially depend.(i)

The Commissioners therefore, under the authority of various Acts of Parliament, and also under the directions of the Treasury, exercise very extensive and important Powers and Functions in the general System, which comprises the Police of the Port of

London.

They superintend the execution of the Laws as they relate to Regulations, respecting the lading and discharging of all Ships and Vessels frequenting the Port, which particularly apply to the mode of securing, and ascertaining the amount of his Ma

(i) See the Fourth Report of the Finance Committee of the House of Commons-printed July 1797.

jesty's Revenue of Customs, -the payment of Drawbacks and Bounties on Goods exported, the granting Licenses, and taking Bonds and Securities from parties concerned in the Importation and Exportation of Goods. They authorise and appoint sufficient Wharfs, where Goods may be landed when the business cannot be carried on at the Legal Quays. They empower inferior Officers to enter on board of Ships and Vessels, arriving and discharging, as well as those that are lading outwards, and to remain so long as they deem necessary for the protection of the Revenue. They appoint, Preferable, Extra, and Glut, Officers, for this particular duty. (k) They instruct and control the whole of the numerous Officers, of all classes, belonging to the different departments of the Revenue of the Customs. They exercise their discretion in mitigating the severity of the Law (subject to the control of the Treasury) in all cases where, from inadvertency or unavoidable causes, an innocent Trader may be aggrieved, and where no injury to the Revenue was contemplated.

They order prosecutions of Illicit Traders and others charged with Frauds upon the Revenue. They direct the sale of Seizures, and manage the financial part of the System, with respect to Salaries and Expences, according to Rules which have been established under the authority of Parliament, and the Lords of the Treasury. In fine, they superintend all

(1) The established Tide-Officers, and all superior situations, are appointed by the Treasury.

matters

(

matters and things whatever, which relate to Vessels in the service of the Customs, or to the control, regulation, or reward of their Officers, in every part of England and the Colonies.

The COMMISSIONERS OF THE EXCISE have a concurrent Jurisdiction with the Customs, with respect to the security of those branches of Revenue which it is their province to collect on articles imported; but they exercise no general superintendance.

They appoint and authorise their Officers to board and to watch Ships and Vessels, where exciseable Goods compose a part of the Cargo, and they also employ Revenue Cutters for the detection and prevention of Illicit Trade.

The FINANCE COMMITTEE OF THE House of Con mons, (to whose labours the Public are already so much indebted, and whose Reports, on a vast variety of Subjects, afford ample hints and materials for the most important legislative Regulations, in matters of the highest consequence to the improvement of Trade and Police in this Kingdom,) state that the Laws respecting the Customs, are "voluminous in their bulk, and intricate in their details," filling, at present, six large volumes in folio, unprovided with any printed Index. They also declare, that they feel themselves warranted in stating, most decidedly, that a consolidation and simplification of the Laws of the Customs would greatly contribute to secure and increase the collection of the Revenue: that by such a simplification "the Re

cc2

venue-Officer would be enabled to execute his duty with more promptitude and safety; the Merchant would better know how to transact his Commercial concerns with the Revenue, and the Foreign Trader would, have the means of avoiding those errors which at present so frequently expose his Property to seizure for the oinission of Forms, which it is almost impossible that he should know to be necessary."(1)

It appears indeed, that the attention of the Executive Government, and of the Officers of the Customs, has been directed in some degree to this important object; and its execution, however difficult, has not been thought impracticable; probably however, (the Committee conclude) the final completion of the Work must be delayed until Peace.

After the foregoing candid avowal by a Committee, the leading Members of which may truly be said to have been indefatigable in their exertions for the public good, it cannot be reasonably expected from the Author of this Work, that he should enter into any thing more than a general Statement of the Powers and Functions exercised by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, and their Officers; under the multiplicity of Statutes, by which those Powers and Functions are created and regulated; giving also an abridged account of the Duties imposed by these Statutes, on Masters of Ships, Merchants, Consignees, &c. in the course of the Importation and Exportation of their Goods.

(1) See the Fourth Report of the Committee, p. 25, 26.

The 389

The following Summary of the most interesting Laws on this Subject will, however, he trusts, serve as some direction to Merchants in this most dangerous part of their voyage; and as a clue to that labyrinth of perplexities, the mazes of which, it is to be hoped, the Legislature will ere long find leisure to put an end to, by pursuing the suggestions of the Finance Committee on this subject.

The Statutes are ranged under the two following heads:

I. The duty of Merchants, Masters of Ships, Wharfingers, Consignees, &c. on the Importation and Exportation of Goods.

II. The Privileges, Duties and Indemnities of Revenue Officers, not specified in the foregoing division.

I. By the Statute 1 Eliz. cap. 11, Owners and Masters of Vessels, are prohibited from Lading or Unlading Ships, except in day-light, and at the Legal Quays and places appointed, (in London and elsewhere,) and without due notice to the Customer and Custom-house Officers.

By 13 and 14 Car. II. cap. 11, no Ship arriving from beyond Sea, shall be above three days coming from Gravesend to her place of Discharge in the Thames, without touching at any Wharf, Quay, or place adjoining to either Shore between Gravesend

and