HC Deb 16 March 1899 vol 68 cc960-1
MR. TIMOTHY HEALY

I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that owing to the want of adequate supervision in Excise warehouses in Dublin some years ago a great fraud was perpetrated, over 10,000 gallons of spirits being abstracted, and that lately there have been two cases in bonded warehouses in England of fraudulent abstractions of spirits: and, in view of those frauds, will he represent to the Board of Inland Revenue the inadvisability of reducing the number of first class officers at present in charge of Excise warehouses in Dublin?

TUB CHANCELLOR OF TUB EXCHEQUER

I am aware that some considerable frauds of the nature described in the Question occurred in an Excise ware house in Dublin in 1888. The matter was fully dealt with at the time, and the staff was increased, and no fraud of this sort is known to have taken place since. The two cases in England to which I think the honourable Member alludes occurred not in Excise but in Customs warehouses. I do not see any necessity for making such representations to the Board of Inland Revenue as are suggested by the honourable Member.