§ LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISHasked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether the inquiries instituted by the late Government into the regulations of the Customs and Inland Revenue Departments under which goods liable to duty are warehoused have yet been concluded: and, whether it is the intention of the present Board of Treasury to take steps to secure uniformity in the practice of the two departments, and to place all bonding warehouses in any district under one department, with the view of affording increased facilities to trade, and of diminishing the charge on the Exchequer
§ MR. W. H. SMITHThe inquiries, Sir, instituted by the late Government into the bonding systems of the Customs and Inland Revenue Departments have been continued under the present Government, but the Report of the Committee has not yet been received, owing partly to the length to which their inquiries have extended, and partly to the dangerous illness of one of the Members, which necessitated a suspension of their labours for some months. I understand, however, that they expect to be able to send it in in the course of a week or so, and as soon as it is received it will be duly considered by the Treasury and the Boards of Customs and Inland Revenue; but until we have had it before us, it is impossible to 374 say what action we are likely to take upon it.