§ MR. STEWART WALLACE (Tower Hamlets, Limehouse)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, considering that in the Customs Department second class examining officers are employed in assessing duty on goods which are highest on the tariff—namely, tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes, while officers in the first class of that grade are employed assessing duty on goods which are the lowest on the tariff—namely, wines in bulk at Is. per gallon: and, in view of the fact that casks of spirits and wines gauged on importation by first class examining officers are checked and regauged, in case of error, prior to their delivery to the merchant by second class examining officers, usually selected for this work on account of their age and experience, he will consider the possibility of allowing these officers to be promoted to the first class?
SIR J. T.HIRBERTThe rate of duty chargeable on any article is not a measure of the intelligence and experience required for, or of the difficulty involved in, the assessment. Weighing tobacco is a simple, and, to a great extent, mechanical, duty, whereas the work of correctly ascertaining the holding capacity of casks on importation, which forms part of the work of import gauging, requires considerable technical knowledge and experience. The duty of checking the contents of a cask ascertained by the first class examining officer falls properly upon the surveyor at the time of importation, and not on the examining officer who may examine the cask prior to delivery for duty.