§ MR. GRAVESasked the Secretary to the Treasury, If the Committee appointed in 1869 to investigate certain complaints of the Officers of Her Majesty's Customs in London has completed the inquiry; and, if so, whether it is intended to submit the Report to the House; and, if the inquiry will be extended to the investigation of complaints submitted to the Treasury by the Officers of Her Majesty's Customs at Liverpool and other principal out-ports?
§ MR. STANSFELD, in reply, said, the inquiry to which the hon. Member's Question referred had, as he thought he was aware, resolved itself in the main into a question of the organization and the working of the Account and Statistical branches of the Customs in London. That inquiry was now complete, and the Papers would shortly be laid before the House. He hoped the result of the inquiry would be satisfactory in point of simplification and of the reduction of labour and of expense. With regard to the second part of the Question, the Board of Customs had given instructions to the large out-ports to deal with the subject in the same manner as it was dealt with in the port of London.