EXCISE. 



473 



officers. 



On the abolition of duties on starch, 



stone bottles, and sweets . 7 



On the modification of the survey 



on tea-dealers . . 142 



On the abolition of the survey on 



wine-dealers ... 40 

 On the modification of the survey 



on brewers ... 84 



Amount of salaries 



'"ST d. 



680 



14,907 5 

 4,033 5 

 8440 



273 28,120 10 



There are ten articles which are now the sub- 

 jects of excise taxation, viz. : 



1. Spirits. 4. Paper. 9. Auctions. 



2. Malt. 5. Soap. 10. Licenses. 



3. Hops. 6. Glass. 



7. Bricks. 



8. Vinegar. 



The commissioners consider the three first arti- 

 cles spirits, malt, and hopes as luxuries, and as 

 a class of articles affording one of the least objec- 

 tionable sources from which this species of taxa- 

 tion can be supplied. But they regard the five 

 succeeding articles, namely, paper, soap, glass, bricks, 

 and vinegar, as articles of useful manufacture ; and 

 consider that a tax imposed on them is liable to the 

 strongest objections. Instances are given of the 

 injurious effects which the excise regulations pro- 

 duce, by interfering with the ingenuity, skill, and 

 resources of the manufacturer. 



To facilitate the great labours which devolve 

 upon the excise establishment in the charging and 

 collection of this branch of the revenue, the coun- 

 try is partitioned into convenient portions, in each 

 of which is organized a certain number of the offi- 

 cers of excise of various ranks, who perform the 

 necessary duties of charging the duties, of supervis- 

 ing the operations of excise traders and manufac- 

 turers, and of collecting the duties within the cir- 

 cuit allotted to them. England and Wales are 

 divided into fifty-five great parts, which are known 

 under the name of " collections." Some of these 

 extend into several counties, and all are more or 

 less limited according to the density of the popu- 

 lation. The name of a county, a large portion or 

 the whole of which is comprised within their limits, 

 is given to some collections; and others are known 

 by the name of some great town which they con- 

 tain. Wales is divided into four collections. The 

 London collection, which includes the district 

 within the limits of the chief office, is placed on a 

 different footing from the country collections, in 

 consequence of this contiguity, and also of the 

 magnitude of its operations. 



Each collection is divided into districts, usually 

 into six or seven, though there are four collections 

 which only contain four districts, and on the other 

 hand the Leeds collection contains eight. The 

 total number of districts in England and Wales is 

 315. Each district again is subdivided into rides 

 and foot-walks, or divisions. A ride comprises a 

 tract of country in which the traders are thinly scat- 

 tered, and the officer is required to keep a horse. 

 The number of miles travelled daily by a ride offi- 

 cer is not less than eighteen on an average. In 

 towns, the circuit which contains so many excise 

 trades and manufactures as require the constant 

 attention of one officer, is necessarily circumscribed, 

 and, therefore, as it can most conveniently be 

 visited on foot, it is termed a foot-walk or divi- 

 sion. Wherever the population is dense, there 

 will always be a sufficient number of traders and 

 manufacturers residing within a short space, and 

 whose operations require to be constantly surveyed, 

 as to render the foot-walk a more convenient divi- 

 sion than the ride. A foot-walk never exceeds a 



circuit of sixteen miles, as the officer would then 

 require a horse. 



The chief officer of each collection is the collec- 

 tor, who is allowed a clerk; and in two or three 

 collections more than one clerk is required. The 

 supervisor is in charge of a district, and is the next 

 officer in point of rank, and afterwards come the 

 ordinary surveying officers. There is always one 

 supernumerary in each collection, and in many 

 there are officers called assistants and expectants. 



The business of the collector is to attend each 

 market-town in his collection eight times during 

 every year, to receive the duties payable in the 

 town and neighbourhood. He is attended by the 

 supervisors and officers, and examines the diaries 

 kept by the former, which contain an account of 

 the daily occupation of their time, and a statement 

 of such errors and omissions as the supervisor may 

 have discovered on the part of officers. The col- 

 lector hears the explanations of the officers, and 

 writes his own view of the case in the same diary, 

 to which the supervisor and officers put their ini- 

 tials if they agree in the view taken by the collec- 

 tor ; and if they do not agree, they are required to 

 state the grounds of their dissent in writing. The 

 use made of these diaries will be subsequently no- 

 ticed. The proceedings of the collector operate 

 as a check upon the supervisor, and the latter is a 

 check upon the subordinate officers. The collec- 

 tor is also employed in hearing information, and he 

 is also required to pay the out-pensioners of Chel- 

 sea hospital. An allowance is made under the 

 head of sitting expenses, in order to provide for 

 the extra payments which he is called upon to 

 make when on his rounds. In 1835 these ex- 

 penses amounted to 20,000. 



The supervisor has charge of a district, compris- 

 ing a certain number of ride and division or foot- 

 walk officers, whose proceedings he constantly 

 checks by surveying, at uncertain times, the same 

 premises. He examines their accounts, keeps a 

 diary, in which he inserts the particulars of his 

 own surveys and the errors which he may have dis- 

 covered in the calculations of the surveying offi- 

 cer. Supervisors are often occupied fifteen hours 

 a day ; and when on duty in a riding district, the 

 number of miles travelled daily averages twenty- 

 three. The labours of the supervisor are both 

 arduous and multifarious. 



The class known as officers constitutes the chief 

 strength of the surveying department. They are 

 employed to survey the excise traders and manu- 

 facturers either in a ride or a foot-walk. The 

 manufacturers and traders give notice to the officer 

 whenever they are about to commence an opera- 

 tion which demands their attendance, and he must 

 be on the premises at whatever hour may be fixed. 

 The officer is frequently on a survey at three o'clock 

 in the morning, or as late as ten or eleven at night. 

 He not only takes accurate surveys of manufactur- 

 ing processes, but is called upon to keep an ac- 

 count of the stock of every dealer in exciseable 

 articles within his circuit. It is of the utmost im- 

 portance to all who are subject to the excise laws, 

 that the officers entrusted with their execution 

 should discharge their duty so as to cause as little 

 annoyance and inconvenience as possible ; and it is 

 right to state that they generally succeed in accom- 

 plishing this object, acting with impartiality to- 

 wards all parties. Every officer is subject to a 

 most rigorous system of inspection by the super- 

 visor under whom he is placed. Before going out 



