§ MR. MACVEAGH (Down, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he has now ascertained if the officers of Excise and Customs are compelled by their regulations to allow, in the Government bonded warehouses, German spirit to be labelled as brandy; and English spirit as Scotch whisky; and whether, in view of the fact that these 1049 practices are carried on with the cognisance of and under the supervision of Government officials, he will give instructions to the officials to report such proceedings to their superior officers and to the public prosecutor.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY (Mr. VICTOR CAVENDISH,) Derbyshire, W.The primary-duty of revenue officials is to see that there is no fraud upon the revenue. It is not possible for them in the execution of that duty to safeguard the consumer, who has his own remedy and is otherwise protected against fraud or misdescription of goods sold to him. I have already explained that any attempt on the part of the Inland Revenue authorities to regulate the trade description of goods in bond would be useless because they have no means of enforcing a similar regulation after the goods have passed out of bond. It would be misleading to create an impression that the fact of goods being dutiable is equivalent to a Government guarantee of their quality.
§ MR. MACVEAGHWhat I want to know is whether it is a fact that these frauds are perpetrated under the supervision of Government officials, and whether these are the officials who are asked to report upon the matter.
§ MR. VICTOR CAVENDISHI have every reason to believe that the Customs House officers carry out their duties in a proper manner.