§ Sir HILDRED CARLILEasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that the Inland Revenue and Excise offices pay their creditors directly by orders to pay, but require the payee to sign his receipt before the order to pay is cashed; and whether any useful purpose is served by the continuance of this method of requiring premature receipts in these Departments?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe system of payment referred to, which is not peculiar to the Excise Department, possesses great advantages, inasmuch as it secures a receipt in many cases in which a receipt would otherwise not be obtained at all, or only at the cost of much time and trouble, and this is a valuable safeguard to the Exchequer. It has been in force for a long time with general acceptance; and no case is known where it has operated to the detriment of the payee. If, as occasionally happens, a particular payee takes objection to the system on grounds of principle {such cases are quite exceptional), the Board of Customs and Excise raise no objection to adopting another method of payment.