§ MR. SLOAN (Belfast, S.)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury what are the functions of the Customs Statistical Office with regard to warehouse accounts of bonded goods, the total number of 1821 clerks, assistant clerks, etc., employed in performing these functions, and the annual cost.
(Answered by Mr. Runciman.) The functions of the Customs Statistical Office with regard to warehouse accounts of bonded goods are, by the application of certain carefully devised but purely mechanical checks and cross checks, to secure that the books kept locally at the Customs warehouses throughout the United Kingdom correctly represent the stocks of bonded goods in those warehouses. The total number of clerks, assistant clerks, and boy clerks, etc., employed at the present time in per-forming these functions is eighty and the mean annual cost for salaries is £9,.300.