§ Colonel GRETTONasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury if he is aware that the Report of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise for the year ending 3Ist March, 1923, was not published until the 20th February, 1924; if he is aware that the Trade and Navigation Return, issued by the Board of Trade, is a longer and more complicated compilation, and is issued by the Board of Trade about a fortnight after the end of the period to which each issue refers; if there is any reason for the long delay in publishing the Customs and Excise Report; and if he will take steps to have the Report completed and published at a date soon after the close of each financial year?
Mr. GRAHAMI am unable to accept the suggested comparison between the Monthly Accounts of Trade and Navigation and the Annual Report of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise. The one is a publication by the Board of Trade of figures assembled by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise from import and export entries, whilst the other is a review of the progress of the Customs and Excise Revenue and of the other activities of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise during the financial year. Efforts are made to secure publication of the Annual Report at as early a date as possible after the close of the financial year, but in normal circumstances this cannot be earlier than the autumn. The delay in the publication of the Report for the year ended 31st March, 1923, arose from the fact that various financial adjustments were necessary at its close as a consequence of the creation of the Irish Free State.