the business of the entire out-door department of the Excise and revise and re-allot the business of every officer as changes become necessary in consequence of alterations in the law, repeal of duties or imposition of fresh duties; they examine the qualifications of supervisors and officers seeking promotion; they prepare and revise instructions for the surveying officers, superintend the examiners in the office, and and render a few other useful and confidential services. A number of Surveying General Examiners, varying according to the season of the year, when the business is more or less active, visit the traders throughout the United Kingdom, inspect their operations and premises, and check the proceedings of the local officers: others visit, as occasion requires, all parts of the country to inquire into complaints either against officers or traders. Surveying General Examiners also officiate for sick or absent collectors. It must be unnecessary to add, that the appointment of surveying general examiner is one of a highly responsible character, and requires an accurate knowledge of all the practical business of the Excise system.

Surveying General Examiners are divided into three classes: the members of the first, and the senior of the second class being employed almost exclusively in the Chief Office. The salaries are as follows:-First class, principal, £600, rising £20 per annum, to £700; three others, £500 each, rising £10 per annum, to £600. Second class, senior, £400, and fifteen others, £350 each per annum; third class, eighteen at £300 each, per annum. Promotion from one class to another, takes place usually by rotation or seniority, but occasionally by selection. Surveying General Examiners are appointed to the office of Collector, as vacancies occur. When engaged in travelling on revenue service, they are allowed first class railway fare, and a sum for expense of subsistence, not exceeding, in the case of the first class, 21s., and of the other classes, 14s. a day.

27. COLLECTORS.-The duties of a Collector of Inland Revenue are comprised under two distinct heads;-first, the collection or receipt of the duties, and the preparation of the several accounts on this subject to be transmitted periodically to the Board. Second, the superintendence of the business within his collection, and of the conduct of supervisors and officers as affecting the traders under survey, or the discipline of the service, and the consequent investigation of all important questions which arise in connexion with this duty. Each country Collector has to visit at eight stated intervals during the year, every market town in his collection; when he holds sittings for the receipt of duties accruing in the town and neighbourhood, and also for examining the books and performances of those supervisors and officers whose stations lie out of his residence.

In England and Ireland, each collector receives in addition to Excise duties, the amount of the Property and Income tax, the Land and Assessed taxes, &c., according to the returns furnished to him by the local officers of taxes. He has to make disbursements and remittances connected with those charges and also on behalf of certain public departments, all of which pass through his accounts, and demand for their proper management a great portion of his time and attention. This duty is performed without any extra remuneration.

Collections are divided into five classes, with salaries, as follows:-1st Class Collectors-of whom there are only two-receive each £650 per annum, increasing by £20 a year to 750. 2nd Class, £500 per annum, increasing by £20 a year to £550. 3rd Class, £450 per annum, increasing by £10 a year to £500. 4th Class, £400 per annum, increasing by £10 a year to £450. 5th Class, £360 per annum,

increasing by £10 a year to £400. As vacancies occur, the classification of collections may be subjected to revision.

In Ireland, certain collectors derive an additional emolument from the collection of the Quit and other Crown rents. The allowance is two per cent. on the amounts collected.

Very recently, the appointment of Distributors of Stamps has been given to the collectors residing in Glasgow and Dublin, and it is probable that such appointments will shortly be extended to other collectors stationed at important places, and who are not long absent from their residences on the collecting rounds. The collectors above-mentioned, have received a considerable increase of pay on account of the new and responsible duties thus assigned them, and have also been allowed the assistance of additional clerks. Similar allowances will, no doubt, be made to other collectors in the event of an extension of their business in this manner.

28. COLLECTORS' CLERKS.-To assist in the making out of his voluminous accounts, the keeping of his books, the filling up of forms, and occasionally in the receipt of duties, a collector is allowed the services of one, two, or three Clerks, according to the extent and importance of the business transacted in his collection. These Clerks are selected from the ranks of surveying officers, and are appointed on the recommendation of the collector, subject to the approval of the Board.* By a recent order, it is required, that every person nominated as a Clerk, shall before his appointment, give satisfactory evidence of his acquaintance with the mercantile system of book-keeping by double entry, and undergo a probation of three months in the Collector's office.

Collectors' Clerks are paid as follows:-In collections in which there is only one clerk, £140 per annum, increasing by £5 yearly to £180. In collections in which there are two clerks, the first clerk, £140 per annum, increasing by £5 yearly to £180, and the second clerk, £110 per annum, increasing by £5 yearly to £140.

In collections in which there are three clerks,—the first clerk receives £180 per annum, increasing by £5 yearly to £220; the second clerk, £140 per annum, increasing by £5 yearly to £180; and the third clerk, £110 per annum, increasing by £5 yearly to £140.

Collectors' Clerks in Ireland, are entitled to one-third of the amount of poundage allowed to collectors, for receiving Quit Rents.

Collectors and their clerks, when away from their residences, on the collecting rounds, are allowed 14s. a day, each, for expenses of travelling and subsistence. In the case of their returning to residence before one o'clock p.m., or not leaving their residence until after that hour, half only of this allowance is granted.

No Collector's Clerk will be appointed a Division officer, unless he has served twelve months in a Ride; and in order to obtain promotion to the station of Examiner, he must have served two years in a Division, and also, a further period of six months after his application has been recorded, should the two years' service have preceded his appointment as clerk.

29. PORT AND WAREHOUSE OFFICERS.-At the ports of London and Liverpool, from which exciseable goods are largely shipped on drawback to foreign countries, there is a staff of officers for the special purpose of examining such goods, and

* Any officer above the rank of second class assistant, is eligible to be appointed Clerk.

granting the drawbacks. In London, the Port Department has at its head, a Sur veyor-salary, £350 per annum-and two supervisors, with the same salary as supervisors of foot-walk districts. The Port Departments are also charged with the supervision of several large duty-free warehouses for the bonding of British Spirits, and in London, with the storing and delivering out of the wood naphtha supplied at a certain price by the revenue to makers of methylated spirit, which consists of a mixture of wood naphtha and spirits of wine allowed to be used dutyfree in the arts and manufactures

In Liverpool the port business is managed by a foot-walk supervisor, and a set of officers, constituting the Port District. The Port Officers in London and Liverpool, are paid on the same scale as ordinary division officers. At the smaller ports, it is not necessary, except in a few instances, to appoint special officers for the granting of drawbacks, &c., as these duties can be sufficiently attended to by supervisors and officers of the surveying department.

The warehouse-keepers stationed at places in which the general duty-free warehouses for British spirits are large or numerous, have the same rank and pay as Division Officers.

In connexion with the port of London, there is a warehouse for the custody of goods seized in the metropolitan districts, illicit spirits seized in Ireland, &c. The salary of the warehouse-keeper is £250 a year.*

30. PREVENTIVE OFFICERS.-In Scotland, these officers, as already stated, are employed solely for the better suppression of illicit malting and distillation. They are appointed from the ranks of ordinary officers, and are paid £120 a year each, but without any periodical increase. The salary of a Preventive man, performing similar duties, is £26 1s. 5d. per annum, with 1s. a week additional, after every five years up to twenty-five years' service. For the purpose of ensuring a succession of young and active men for this service, it has been recently ordered, that the employment of all Preventive men is to terminate at the end of five years; but when efficiency is displayed the appointment will be renewed from period to period, up to a certain age.

Within the last few years, a district, now called Tower Hill District, has been established in London, for the express object of checking the illicit distillation which prevails in the metropolis. The visits of the supervisor and officers are occasionally extended to the provinces, and their services have already proved of great advantage to the Revenue. They are paid the same salary as surveying officers, and when engaged in the country, they receive allowances for the cost of travelling and subsistence.

31. INSPECTORS OF CORN RETURNS.-Officers of Inland Revenue, stationed in certain English market towns, have in addition to their ordinary surveying duties, to act in the capacity of Inspectors of Corn Returns and to transmit to the Board of Trade a weekly account of sales of corn from the particulars supplied to them by each buyer. Great importance is attached to the punctual and careful performance of this service, for which there is no special remuneration. At a few places, the Inspectorship of Corn Returns is still held by persons unconnected with the Excise.

32. CHEMICAL ESTABLISHMENT.-To qualify officers for the better detection of adulteration in exciseable commodities, for testing the original gravity of distillers * It is probable that the duties of the seizure warehouse-keeper will be shortly merged in those of the Port Surveyor.

wash, and of beer exported on drawback, and for rendering other special services to the revenue in matters which demand some share of scientific training, a selection is made, at intervals, from the ranks of the surveying department, of a number of junior officers, to undergo instruction in practical chemistry at the Board's Laboratory in London. The classes are taught by the Principal of the Laboratory (salary £500, rising £10 per annum to £600); and his fixed Assistant (salary £200, rising £10 per annum to £300). Those who apply for permission to attend the classes, are subjected to a preliminary competitive examination, consisting of a few simple questions on the leading facts of chemistry and natural philosophy, to be answered in writing. The object of this examination is to ensure a selection of the persons best fitted by their previous attainments to enter with advantage on a course of experimental study. All the cost of apparatus and materials is borne by the Revenue, and each laboratory pupil is paid the full salary of the station which he holds in the excise, while his time counts the same as if he were engaged in the discharge of ordinary surveying duties. In addition to going through this course of instruction in practical or experimental chemistry, the laboratory students have to attend lectures on the theory of the science at the Royal College of Chemistry, Oxford Street, London, for an entire session. At the end of the session, the students are examined by the professor, and prizes are given to those who evince the best knowledge of the principles of chemistry and practical analysis.

As this branch of the service has only recently been established on its present footing, the term of study is not yet definitely fixed, but the practice hitherto has been to give the students from nine to ten months' instruction. This period has been found sufficient for the purpose of qualifying them to perform analysis properly, and to use the microscope in detecting adulteration. The nominations are generally made a little before the month of October in each year.

The Laboratory is nominally constituted a district, with the title of London South District. Its regular staff consists of a certain number of chemically qualified officers, who have completed their term of studentship, in addition to the Principal and his Assistant. These officers are employed for a variable period, to assist in the analysis of samples, to give evidence at hearings in the country, and to further the general work of the Laboratory. Their promotion is not retarded by this appointment, however long they may be thus specially occupied.

A month's instruction at the Laboratory is also given to each Examiner, to qualify him, before being fixed in a district, for the better supervision of traders' operations, and the detection of the commoner forms of adulteration.

Chemical officers are stationed at a few of the outports, and in some of the larger towns, for the purpose of checking the rates of drawback claimed by exporters of beer, and repressing adulteration on the part of tobacco manufacturers.

33. INDOOR OFFICES.-There are a few fixed situations in the establishment at Somerset House, which have hitherto been given to persons who have served in the surveying department, and who seek a relief from more active duties. The principal appointments thus conferred are those of a Supervisor and Officer of Diaries, who issue and register the censures ordered by the Board, on the perusal of supervisors' diaries, and on other occasions. They are paid at the same rate as a Footwalk Supervisor and a Division officer respectively.*

It is understood that a change will be made in the management of the diary department, on the superannuation of the present officers.

34. MUTUAL GUARANTEE FUND.-All officers entrusted with the receipt or collection of duties, are required to give adequate security to the Crown for the money that may pass through their hands. This security is afforded, under the present regulations, both by personal bond, and by the operation of a system of mutual guarantee. To relieve officers of the difficulty and inconvenience of providing sufficient sureties, a fund peculiar to the service has been instituted, contribution to which is compulsory on collectors and other officers at the time of their first appointment to stations involving pecuniary responsibility.

In every case the required sum is to be contributed by two equal instalments, the first within three, and the last within six months after the person's appointment to his office.

The fund is invested in Government securities, in the names of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Board, and is held for the purpose of making good any loss to the Revenue, occasioned by the act or default of a contributor, in such cases as are expressed in the condition of his personal bond.

In the event of the fund being reduced below the minimum of £10,000, by claims for loss, each person is called on to contribute his proportion of the sum required to replace the amount withdrawn; but the demand of the Crown is not in any instance to exceed the sum for which personal bond has been given.

The interest of the fund is appropriated from time to time to the purchase of additional stock. On the retirement or death of any contributor, the sum then at his credit, inclusive of interest at 2 per cent. is paid to him, or to his legal representative.

35. LIFE ASSURANCE, AND BENEVOLENT FUND.-By arrangement with the Atlas Assurance Company, policies of life assurauce are granted, at certain rates and in a convenient manner, to all persons in the service of the Board of Inland Revenue, who may be desirous of making such provision for their wives or families; on the understanding that the premiums shall be collected without expense to the company.

Collectors are required to receive proposals from officers wishing to insure, to inquire and certify as to the truth of the particulars stated in such proposals, and to serve as the general medium of communication between assurers and the actuary.

The premiums of persons holding policies are, on their so authorizing it, deducted from their salaries once a year, or in half yearly, quarterly, or half-quarterly proportions, as may have been arranged at the time of insuring, and are remitted by the collector to the Atlas office in London.

There is alsc in connexion with the Atlas Assurance Company a fund, denominated the Inland Revenue Benevolent Fund, the object of which is to provide annuities for the widows and orphans of those assurers who assign the bonuses on their policies to the fund; and to assist superannuated officers in paying their premiums. Subscriptions towards the maintenance and improvement of this fund