§ SIR HENRY ROSCOE (Manchester, S.)asked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether his attention has been called to the fact that, owing to the present faulty system of charging the duty upon spirits, a loss to the Revenue estimated at from £60,000 to £80,000 per annum is incurred without any corresponding advantage to the trader; whether this defect is well known and acknowledged by the Inland Revenue Department; whether his attention has been directed, to a system proposed by Dr. Derham which, by substituting correct for incorrect tables, and a scientific and accurate instrument for an inexact one, will not only facilitate the work of the officials, but also, by yielding correct results at all temperatures, will give to the Revenue a sum equal to that mentioned above; and, whether, in view of the importance of this subject to the National Exchequer, he will consider the propriety of appointing a Departmental Committee to report on the method suggested by Dr. Derham?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GOSCHEN) (St. George's, Hanover Square)I am informed that it is not the fact that there is a loss to the Exchequer of £60,000 to £80,000 per annum, as suggested by the hon. Baronet, owing to the faulty system of charging the duty upon spirits. No practical defect in the system is acknowledged by the Inland Revenue Department. Dr. Derham's system has been brought to my notice, and the merits of the principle of his instrument are recognized; but his estimate of the increase which would accrue to the Revenue by the adoption of his system is based upon erroneous assumptions, Sikes's hydrometer, which is the legalized instrument for charging the duty on spirits, is not only used by the Customs and Inland Revenue officers, but by the whole of the trade; and I am told that it would be as great a revolution to introduce Dr. Derham's instrument in its place, as it would be to introduce the decimal system in the place of our present coinage. I am also informed that Dr. Derham's instrument 853 is of a delicate character, and not so well adapted as Sikes's hydrometer to be carried about on the rough journeys which the Revenue officers have to go through.