NEW SOUTH WALES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 644, 8 January 1859, Page 4

NEW SOUTH WALES.

FEATJD AND MISMANAGEMENT IN TUB CUSTOMS DEPARTMENT.

. During the past month, a Board, appointed by the Government of the colony, has been actively engaged ia a searching enquiry into various unpleasant matters connected with the customs ippucipally into supposed'frauds upon the. revenue ||uipvhich several officers of that department and 'other persons are very seriously implicated); and secondarily, into any departmental abuse, general, mismanagement, or'particular ill considered arrangement, which might, in the course of the en--1 quiry||be brought under notice, as necessary to be at once dealt with, and effectually guarded against hereafter. The Board—consisting of Captain Ward, Deputy Master of the Mint; Captain J

M'Lorio, Inspector General of Police; and XL 11. Browne, Esquire, Immigration, Agent—has already sat upon eleven different days, and examined thirty-fivo different witnessos; abstracts of whose ovidonoo, of a voluminous naturo and (for the most part) of a technical character, have already appeared in tho ' Herald,'—the results of this important investigation- having unhappily assumed so matured and explicit a character as fully to demand and justify their publication. Although it was intimated by tho chairman to tho Collector of Customs, that those officers who were directly interested in the proceedings might bo present during the enquiry, none have as yet been so present, owing, as it is now stated, to an ignoranco or misapprehension of tho above permission. As far, however, as the examination has yet gono, whenever the evidence talcen has appeared to bear peculiarly upon any officer's conduct, that officer has invariably been called in and questioned upon those points and particular statements by which doubts might be raised as to his efficiency or integrity. These the party has answered, and explained, or has been silent upon, as thought most advisable. The chief direction of the questions put by the Board has been (1), respecting the .suspicious circumstances under which the schooner Louisa, 74 tons, King, master, on or about the 2nd of September last, sailed from Port Jackson, having cleared for New Caledonia, with a cargo of dutiable articles, taken from five different Bonded Stores in Sydney; and also (in intimate relation to the foregoing) the circumstances under which that same vessel (having returned to Port Jackson on the 7th October, in ballast) again cleared from Sydney to the South Sea Islands, via Newcastle, on the Bth of October—the very day after her return to pork— (2.) Eespecting the equallyextraordinary circumstances under, which about thirty-seven tons w of sugar were illegally landed out of a ship named the Fanny Fisher, 'discharging cargo in this port in December last year t—and (3.) Respecting the loose irregular and improper manner in which the ordinary business of the department,—as regards the exportation the importation and the transfer of dutiable goods,—has been generally conducted. Some further evidence will probably yet be offered and received, before the board send in their report; but some things appear to be already so far established as to render it improbable that any amount of counter testimony can materially invalidate them. It would seem, then, from the evidence, that the Louisa, on the 2nd of September last, was most irregularly cleared out of this harbour for N«w Caledonia, with papers, furnished contrary to regulalations, intended to mislead the authorities and others into the supposition that a large amount of dutiable goods, on that avid on the following day taken out of bond, did actually leave the colony'in that vessel; whereas, in point of fact,"they were not so shipped at all, although withdrawn from bond under colour of being so shipped—thus causing a loss to the revenue of a very considerable sum—• the entire duty upon a great many hogsheads of spirits, and a -'large quantity of other dutiable articles. In the case of the Fanny Fisher, the evidence goes to show that the carelessness or fraud of a drunken subordinate Custom-house officer would, under the system in fovce, have inevitably caused a loss to the revenue of £173, if some person* accidently concerned, had not felt it to be his interest to pay that amount on a post entry for the sugar he never received at all. As to the third portion of the enquiry, the evidence shows... that there .have been no general regulations in force since they were withdrawn by the British authorities at the inauguration of responsible government in this colony. That a sort of traditional practice has been followed with occasional written and verbal orders from the Collector, and that irregularities, totally irreconcilable either with the "law of the customs or the dictates of common sense, have been the inevitable result. That the revenue has not been protected, and that the, system of books kept in the department is, in one notable instance at all events, wholly insufficient and unsatisfactory. That there is -a want of organization in the department generally. That gratuities, not to say bribes, are taken by .officers for the performance of ordinary and extraordinary duties* That there are gross irregularities in individual instances,: —such as neglecting to gauge liquors, gauging incorrectly and carelessly, making inaccurate and: avowedly false entries—habits of drunkenness, &c. That every facility has been afforded by this state of things for the practice of fraud upon the revenue, and that such frauds have been unblushingly and -daringly committed accordingly, and that too, with perfect impunity. The evidence also shows that there are several gentlemen in the-customs whose conduct and mode of performing their duty are both unexceptionable, but that even their efficiency is hampered and interfered with; by the utter want of anything like organised departmental arrangements for them to . work upon. The respective allotment of duty to the different officers is also bad, and as to any proper system of countercheck, nobody seems responsible to anybody. The public wait with interest and anxiety for the report of this Board, and the promise of some radical alteration and improvement in the department of the customs. — Sydney Morning Herald, Dec. 10.