CUSTOMS. 



ef new and additional duties, which 

 were generally adjusted on the princi- 

 ples of the old subsidy ; that is, the 

 value of the goods was ascertained by a 

 book of rates, and the amount computed 

 by the quantities of the goods, either with 

 respect to gauge, to weight, or to tale ; the 

 duty, therefore, was not a certain pro- 

 portion of their real value, but of an arbi- 

 trary value, agreeing perhaps with the 

 current value at the time of imposing the 

 duty, but which, from the natural fluctua- 

 tions of trade and manufactures, must ne- 

 cessarily be liable to many changes and 

 alterations. There was also another mode 

 by which duties were imposed ; this was, 

 by a proportion to the value on goods 

 not rated, being levied according to the 

 actual value of the same, as sworn to by 

 the importers. These principles being 

 once adopted, were followed in all the 

 new and additional duties of customs, 

 which were imposed for payment of the 

 interest on the various loans which were 

 raised from time to time for the public 

 service. In some instances the addition- 

 al duties were calculated by a per cent- 

 age on the duties previously paid ; in 

 others a further duty was laid on a differ- 

 ent denomination of the commodity, 

 either with respect to its value, its bulk, 

 its weight, or its number ; and by pro- 

 ceeding repeatedly in this manner, the 

 numerous additions made, at length, be- 

 came such a mass of confusion, as produc- 

 ed an infinity of inconvenience and delay 

 in business, and became the subject of 

 universal complaint among mercantile 

 persons. From the great complexity of 

 the whole of this branch of the revenue, 

 arising from the multiplicity of duties, 

 which, being appropriated to separate 

 funds, were obliged to be kept distinct, 

 scarcely any merchant could ascertain by 

 calculations of his own, the duties he was 

 to pay, but was left in a great measure at 

 the mercy of the officers of the customs, 

 who, from being intended as a check 

 upon the merchants, thus became their 

 agents. 



The Commissioners of accounts, ap- 

 pointed in the year 1780, in their 13th, 

 14th, and 15th reports, the last of which 



was dated 19th December, 1786, have 

 given a full explanation of the constitu- 

 tion of this department of the revenue, 

 the duties of its several officers, and the 

 mode of collecting it, both in London and 

 the out-ports. They also pointed out a 

 variety of important regulations for re- 

 trenchment of expense, reduction of the 

 establishment and accommodation of the 

 merchants, most of which have since 

 been carried into effect. But the most 

 extensive and useful measure recommend- 

 ed by them as a consolidation of all the 

 existing- duties, by the substitution of one 

 single duty on each article, amounting as 

 nearly as possible to the aggregate of all 

 the various duties then payable. This 

 was effected in 1787, by an act 27 Geo. 

 III. cap. 13, by which the accounts of the 

 custom-house were much simplified, and 

 the rates of duty rendered intelligible to 

 all persons affected by them. 



In the year 1797 eight new branches of 

 duties had been created since the conso- 

 lidation, which made it necessary to keep 

 so many new and distinct accounts. At 

 this time the number of articles subject 

 to the custom duties amounted to not less 

 than 1200, not more than 160 of which 

 appear upon the annual accounts present- 

 ed to parliament, as yielding the sum of 

 WOOL and upwards ; the remaining 1040 

 are classed together, under the general 

 head of "sundry small articles," and did 

 not produce, in the whole, more than from 

 85,000/. to 110,0007. per annum ; each of 

 these articles, nevertheless, had some 

 special regulation belonging to it, and the 

 accumulated mass of these details had, 

 in the opinion of the Select Committee on 

 Finance, rendered the whole system much 

 too complex. That this opinion was well 

 founded will be admitted from the cir- 

 cumstance, that the statutes relative to 

 the customs alone, make six very large 

 volumes in folio. 



In the year 1803 the customs were 

 again consolidated, by 43 Geo. III. cap. 

 68; but additional duties have been since 

 imposed, which will render it necessary 

 to have recourse again to this useful mea- 

 sure at a future period. 



