BUSINESS NOTES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2162, 19 August 1907, Page 2

BUSINESS NOTES.

A In intaw ay slice]) dog is advertised The owner of a white parasol is wail ted. . , , . Several servants are wanted by Air. Geo. Smith. . . A young man asks for a situation on a station. ‘ A young lady advertises fur a position as lady help. ’ Present entries for the stock sale to be held at Matawhero on Thursday appear in this issue. • Messrs. W. Pettie and Co. have decided to extend the time for closing tlieir special discount sale lor a week.

| THE CUSTOMS EXPERT, DETAILS AND HISTORY OF THE j APPOINTMENT. STATEMENT BY MR. SHANNON. (Special to Times.) WELLINGTON, August 18. The whole of tin; circumstances connected with tho appointment of the chief customs expert (Mr. Shannon) havo not boon disclosed nnd the. enquiry promised by Sir Joseph Ward will be awaited with considerable interest. From inquiries and researches I have made since the matter was discussed in tho House- I am able to givo the facts of tlio case pretty fully. THE QUESTION OF PAYMENTS. It u-ppears that tho total payments mado to Mr. Shannon are not covered by his salary of £BOO a year, and travelling expenses oven includo tlio expenses he gets for days oil which ho does not travel. Ho gets m addition a portion of tho linos winch, through liis instrumentality, have beon imposed upon delinquent importers. I am given to understand that the amount is one fourth of tlio fines, the sums paid being at the discretion of tho Commissioner of Customs, who is empowered by the Act of 1882 to pay to the officer a certain sum of such fines or recoveries, llie mattci is dealt with in a comprehensive mnn- > ner by tlio Act. Clause 234, which 1 lias a special boaring upon such nay- ' monts, reads as follows: —“The Com- > missioiier may also order to he ]>aid > or distributed out of the snid revenue ' to or amongst the officer or officers or ' other poison by whom or through whose means or information any seizure shall have been made or penalty i recovered or adjudged to be paid un- , der this or any other Act relating to ■ tho Customs, such reward as the Com--1 missioiier may see fit, not exceeding. as tho case may be, the amount of the proceeds or the value as determined 1 by the Commissioner of such seizure r oi- the amount of the penalty.” So far as Mr. Shannon is concerned therefore it will be seen that there is • nothing illegal in liis receiving a portion of the fines imposed or indeed the - whole of them. It is, however, a dev ha table point as to whether it is adI visahle to pay a portion of fines, etc., e to nil officer through whose efforts - such fines may be imposed. ° STORY OF THE APPOINTMENT. The history of the original appoint- ,. nient and its subsequent ratification:i- would make interesting reading. At - the time of the appointment the At--0 kinson Administration was in power and Mr. Shannon, who was a friend ii of Mr. Ballance, was about to contest a the Rangitikei seat in the Opposition interest. The appointment, however ,1 was heartily approved by Mr. Ballance [1 who supported the Atkinson Government in making it- the first reference to the appointment- So far as a -. hurried search lias enabled mo_ to asif certain it was shortly after it was s made, speaking in the House on Aud gust 17th, 1889. Sir Harry Atkinson n said that Mr. Shannon’s salary was y £BOO and 30. s a day travelling allowif mice “when travelling on public sors vice.” the engagement- to be for 12 s months. Mr. Shannon, lie said, was k engaged practically by the year and u the Government were of opinion t-liat he would he required for three years. It was not proposed to appoint r is permanent officer at all. The vote, if lie said was an annual one and there l- was no nuestion as to the valuable li services Mr. Shannon had rendered i- Thomrh Sir Harry Atkinson stated n that, the travelling allowance was onl* 1, to he paid when . Mr. Shannon w»e i- travelling on public service, there is 1 believe, a letter on the files, signed e by the late Mr. George Fisher, who II was Minister for Customs at the time stating that tho travelling allowance was to include stay in Wellington. It e appears that the appointment on those i- conditions was renewed bv Mr. RalI. lonan and later on bv Air. Soddon d The fact- however, that the salarv a"d 'S travelling expenses were buried nn J, under the heading of “contingencies” il led to the matters being lost, sight of f, hv a new generation of politicians.

DEMAND FOR INFORMATION. Then came tho memorable stonewall of September, IS9B, when the Opposition made a gallant and successful fight in the public interest for the earlier production of the Public AA’orks Statement —tlio production of the B 1 return, the details of contingencies. The Opposition divided ‘itself into watches, Air. Massey taking the niglut watch, and for some seventy hours the fight went on. Shortly after midnight on the Thursday tlio galleries were cleared, and a detailed account of the proceedings would have been lost-, hut for the fact that a lady journalist sat up all night in the ladies’ gallery reporting the proceedings. Both the press reporters and the Hansard representative: were cleared out of t-lieir galleries, and the lady sitting aloft in her gallery was the solo spectator of the strange scene, a graphic description of which was given next day in the columns of the Christchurch Press and Of'ago Daily Times and N.Z. Herald. At S o’clock on the Friday morning the Opposition, tired out with their exertions and their long vigil, wore on the point of being beaten, the last mail of the watch having almost finished liis last speech, when old Air. Thomson, Clutha, the vanguard of the new watchers, walked in and saved the situation. He began to talk in liis quaint, measured way about spring, and in particular about the swallow as the harbinger of spring. He had quite a fund of information about swallows, and at last when the Chairman pulled him up for needless repetition, he introduced the cuckoo, the idiosyncrasies of this bird giving him still more scope. The result ol that famous stonewall was that the Government, climbed down and agreed to give the information asked for. The agreement was embodied in some very interesting correspondence between Captain Russell and Air. Seddon, published about 10th September, 1898. One of the immediate results of this fight was that a few days later, iii reply to Air. Lang, the details of “Contingencies” in the Customs Department, amounting to £4IOO, were given, showing that the Customs Expert got £BOO a year. It was not shown what travelling expenses Air. Shannon received, the travelling expenses of tho various officers. £B2l. being lumped together. The rewards to officers in connection 'with seizures were shown to be £526. SOAIE CRITICISAIS OF THE OFFICERS.

After tli is there were on several occasions criticisms of the officers made in Parliament. Mr. Millar, t-he present Minister of Customs, was one of the most trenchant of the criticisers. In August. 1902. Mr. Millar asked what was the purpose of the business of tin’s expert. It was, he said, supposed that lie advised the Government to prevent frauds, but his true purpose seemed to bo to do anything ho could to injure local industries. Whenever raw material was imported it was the constant endeavor of this expert to impose conditions that would make it impossible to carry on the business of manufacturing. If that was the purpose for which the expert held office, then the sooner they wiped out this item the better. Mr. Millar added that he could keep them going till midnight with illustrations of this expert's anomalous decisions. Some of the most absurd things man had ever heard of before had been done by the expert. In 1903, Mr. Fowlds (another member of tho present Ministry) also criticised file expert. While expressing the opinion that Mr. Shannon’s salary should be increased, he pointed out that, “as tin* result of the manipulations and interpretation under J;lie Customs Act, people were being very heavily taxed indeed.” He referred to cotton piece goods, “under which head nearly £IO,OOO a year was being squeezed out of tile taxpayers more than would have been the case under the interpretations of the Customs and Excise Duties Act of 1895.” During the same debate Mr. Arnold protested against s]hes and detectives being employed by this ot any other Department, if they were going to reccivo rewards for that which they did in addition to their ordinary salaries. It was bad enough to have spies for sly-grog shops. Mr. Fowlds also referred to the “inaccurate and variable decisions of this officer.” In answer to a question, by Mr. Arnold. Mr. Mills, Minister for Customs at tli© time, stated that in'cases where

the officer ol' the Department detected attempts at fraud by tho alterations or invoices, etc., they were rewarded. It was moved to reduce Mr. Shannon’s salary by £4O, but the motion was negatived by 31 to 22.

Ml!, SHANNON’S STATL—ENT OF THE CASE.

Writing to Mr. Glasgow on the sth inst., Mr. Shannon makes the following .via temoU't: —“Hear Glasgow, — With reference to our . conversation on Saturday respecting my travelling ( allowance, which extends to 'Wellington as well as other towns in the colony, yon are aware of the facts which I shall state for tho information of the Hon. Mr. Millar, tho present Minister of tho Department. In 1888 tho first protective tariff was passed, and the House made such a muddle of it that the officers of the Customs could not jiroporly interpret for duty collecting purposes, more particularly in tho drawer portion. At Sir Harry Atkinson’s request I undertook to classify it, and lie was so well satisfied with my knowledge that ho offered me the position which I at present hold. For some months wo could not come to terms as to salary’ and allowances. 1 asked £ISOO a year and travelling expenses, undertaking to prevent frauds which i know were being carried on, and which would save to the Government at least from £IO,OOO to £12,000 a year. These may appear large figures, hut subsequently I proved that 1 was correct. Sir Harry Atkinson stated to tho House in 1889 that lie held ill his hand a list supplied by the Secretary of Customs, showing that Mr. Shannon had recovered duties and prevented frauds during the seven months of his sorvico anioun.ti.ilg to over £SOOO, which more than justified tho appointment. In discussing tho question of salary Sir Harry told me that the House yvould not pass the amount I wanted, hut that he could offer tho salary and expenses of a Minister, viz., £BOO a year and 30s a uay travelling expenses ; that lie could not ask the House for more, as they yvero reducing all salaries 10 per cent.; but that ho yvould make my travelling allowance covering my stayin Wellington, which yvould he almost equal to what I wanted. This was not satisfactory to me at the time. On leaving, the Secretary, Mr. H. S. McKellar, yvho was most anxious to obtain my services on account of the muddle the Department had got into, asked me to put in a formal application, stating my qualifications, as In had uo doubt the Government would arrange with me as to terms. This letter will be found in my papers. I told Sir Harry Atkinson that I would consult Mr. Ballanco on the matter, and that in any case I could not take the appointment without doing so, as I had arranged with, him to contest the Itangitikei seat at the next general election. I went to AVangan.ui some time after and saw Mr. Ballanee, yvho advised me that he believed I could serve the country, better in preventing til© frauds he knew were going on than if I went into the House. He told mo to tell Sir H. Atkinson that so impressed yvas he with the necessity of the appointment that if he (Sir Harry) gave me £IOOO a year and 30s travelling allowance, including my stay in Wellington, as Leader of the Opposition he would support it in the House. In October, 1888, I accepted Sir Harry’s terms under- a three years’ engagement, which was embodied in an agreement made by him and signed by his Commissioner of Customs, Mr. Fisher, which I hold,, and a copy of same will be found in my papers, which clearly sets out the conditions. At the end of the three years of my employment Mr. Ballance, who was then Prime Minister, ratified and extended the agreement. Mr. Seddon, when lie succeeded to the Premiership, having a full knowledge of the fact that my salary was £SOO a year and 30s a day travelling allowance, including my stay in Wellington approved and continued the agreement. Ho complimented me on the work I had done and the large leakages I had prevented in Customs duties, saying that in 1889 he spoke in the House against the appointment, but it was only when he became a Minister that he saw the value of my services. Higher commendation I want from no man but I am certain you, Mr. Glasgow, above others know- the value of my services, and I feel confident that you will admit that no man ill the department has ever carried out his duties with more zeal and efficiency than myself. I admit that so-called experts can he got from £2OO to £3OO a year, but wliat uso would they be to you in advising on the intricate questions of tariff-making or preventing the fraudulent attempts made on the Customs that are cropping up from day to day, or should the Shoddy and Mixed Cotton and Wool Cloths Bill pass, these inexperienced men would land the department in no end of trouble. In conclusion I may he permitted to respectfully assure you that the Government cannot secure a man in the Australian colonies or in New Zealand with' my knowledge and experience in all departments of trade and who understands the Customs work as I do at less- than £ISOO a year and 30s a day travelling allowance, including his stay in Wellington.