§ DR. CAMERON (Glasgow, College)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the attention of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue has been called to the fact that a bale of three gross of postage card boards, sent to London to be stamped by Messrs. Begg, Kennedy, and Harper, of Glasgow, and on which £40 1s. was paid to the Inland Revenue by their London agent for stamping, was lost through the foundering of the Cambria, on which it was being forwarded to Glasgow; and whether they will, on proof that the bale was lost as stated, refund the charge for stamping, as would be done could the sunken bale be recovered and produced?
§ MR. JACKSONI am afraid that it is not within the power of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue to make allowance in respect of spoiled stamps unless such stamps be produced.
MR. PHILIPPS (Lanark, Mid)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will direct inquiry to be made into the circumstances attending the refusal by the Board of Customs to return the duty of 4d. per pound charged on six and a half chests of tea lost in the steamship Cambria off Yarmouth; whether, seeing that the tea can never be recovered, the Board of Customs is legally entitled to refuse to return the duty; and whether, as the tea was uninsured and has been a heavy loss to a small dealer, he could see his way to advise the return of this money?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GOSCHEN,) St. George's, Hanover SquareThe vessel Cambria, after a collision off Yarmouth, was run ashore and became a total wreck. Some goods have been recovered from the vessel; but there are no packages of tea among them, and it is possible that other goods may have been recovered of which the officers have no knowledge. An attempt may be made to raise some portion of the cargo still in the vessel. There is no authority in the Customs Acts enabling the Board of Customs to return in such a case as this the duty which has been paid, as the proper amount, on goods delivered for home consumption.