§ MR. HUNTTo ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will explain why Customs bonded warehouses in Leith are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in charge of the warehouse keeper only, the attendance of the officer depending upon the request of the warehouse keeper, notwithstanding the fact that public-houses are situated in very close proximity.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) The Customs bonded warehouses at Leith, as at all other ports, are under the continuous supervision of the Customs staff during the hours within which such warehouses are allowed to be open. At the more important warehouses at Leith one or more officers are constantly present. At the smaller warehouses, some of which are only occasionally open for business, officers are in constant attendance while operations are in progress; at other times these warehouses are visited at frequent and irregular intervals as business may require, and to an extent sufficient to ensure the due protection of the revenue. None of the Customs bonded warehouses in Leith are in closer proximity than the regulations permit to any premises in which duty-paid stocks of wines or spirits are kept.