§ Commander Nobleasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what has been the revenue from contraband captures in the past 12 months as compared with the year 1938; to what extent smuggling is predominantly an individual practice or organised by gangs; whether these gangs are predominantly alien or alien-born; and what is being done to check the traffic.
§ Mr. Glenvil HallThe available figures are for financial years; with that reservation the desired particulars are as follow:
Year ended 31st March, 1938, £70,361.
Year ended 31st March, 1946, £121,949.
Estimate for year ending 31st March, 1947, L160,000.
Each figure includes fines, penalties and law costs recovered and proceeds (excluding duty and in 1946 and 1947, Purchase Tax also) of the sale of seized goods. The 1938 figure also includes Excise fines, penalties and costs for which a separate figure is not available for that year. There is no evidence in the majority of smuggling cases to suggest conspiracy to defraud the Revenue. No statistics are 309W available as to the nationality of the very small proportion of offenders who were proved or suspected to be members of a gang. It would not be in the public interest to reveal what precautions are taken against smuggling, but when smugglers are detected it is the practice of the Revenue authorities to invoke the full rigour of the law against them in all suitable cases.