§ MR. LOCKEsaid, he wished to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether Excisemen have been employed by the 1535 Board of Inland Revenue to collect the Land, Assessed, and Income Taxes in the parish of Bermondsey, and elsewhere; and, if so, whether security has been given by them, and whether they have taken the oath of secrecy as collectors required by the Income Tax Acts?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, in several cases since the Act was passed in 1854 for the purpose, it had devolved on the Board of Inland Revenue, in consequence of the inability of the local authorities or in consequence of defalcations, to appoint collectors of the income tax. But as the hon. Gentleman confined his question to the instance of Bermondsey, he would confine his reply to that. The case of Bermondsey was as follows:—Certain persons were returned to the Commissioners of Land and Assessed Taxes to be appointed collectors for that parish. Those persons, however, were found unable to give the requisite security. That being the case the Commissioners reported the fact to the parochial authorities, and the latter reported that they were unable to find persons in their stead. The Board of Inland Revenue then offered the appointment to some persons who had been formerly employed in the same capacity in the same district. Those persons at first consented to undertake the duties but afterwards declined. After the failure of those efforts the Board appointed four officers of their own and placed at the head of them one who had held the position of examiner. The first step then taken was to swear those officers to secrecy; but, with respect to finding security, that was not the system pursued by the Board with reference to their own officers. Of course men appointed by the Board in this way owed no liability to the parish. The step taken by the Board experience pointed out as the best for the public service. They did not require their officers to find security; but they required them to account for and to pay over de die in diem whatever money they had received, and they had likewise made arrangements that their accounts should be examined at short periods.