§ MR. O'SULLIVANasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, If it is a fact that in one warehouse alone (where the Inland Revenue Commissioners admitted the revenue was defrauded of not less than £13,000) from four hundred to five hundred casks of whiskey were racked daily, from each of which casks nearly two gallons of proof spirits have been obtained without payment of duty; and if this evasion of duty has not amounted to over £80,000 per annum in one warehouse alone?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERThe hon. Member is not correct in his calculation as to the amount of loss that has been sustained by the Inland Revenue from the cause to which he 149 refers. The fact is, that in the warehouse in question the number of casks racked did not exceed 420 a-week—not 400 or 500 a-day, as he represents in the Question, but 400 a-week—and the average quantity of proof spirit that could be extracted from each would be 1¼ gallons, instead of 2 gallons. Consequently, the loss of duty would amount to the sum mentioned in the Report of the Commissioners — namely, £13,000, and not, as the hon. Member says, to £80,000. I may add that the moment the attention of the Inland Revenue Department was called to the subject they issued instructions with a view to preventing anything of the kind, and the same course has been taken since then with regard to the Customs.