P.—No. 7a,

We think that a regulation on this subject applicable to all the Ports in the Colony should be laid down, and recommend the following scale : — Landing Surveyors, 4s. 6d. per hour. Landing AVaiters, Clerks, AVarehousekeepers, 3s. per hour. Tide Surveyors, Lockers and Tidewaiters, 2s. per hour. Other officers for every £100 salary per annum, Is. per hour. No remuneration of this kind to be allowed to Collectors or Sub-Collectors. Wellington. The Staff of the Customs Department at AVellington, consists of : — Collector (also, Licensing Officer under Arms Act), £600. Landing Surveyor, £300. Three Clerks, £250, £160, and £100. Three Landing Waiters, £250, £150, £140. AVarehousekecper, £180. Boarding Officer, £150. Three Lockers, £150, £120, £100. Messenger, £80; and Two Boatmen, £110 and £100. Extra Tidewaiters are employed in addition to the regular staff at a cost of about £250 a year, making the whole expense of the Department in salaries, £3165 per annum. Tho Revenue at the Port of AVellington for the last half-year was £34,787, so that the cost of collection during that period only amounted to 4i per cent, per annum. There was collected in 1863 the sum of £35,845, or about half the sum now received, whilst the number of persons then employed was the same as at present. The following is a statement of the duties performed by the various officers : — The Collector has the general supervision of the Department and receives all money payable to Her Majesty for Customs Dues. He collects also the Lighthouse Dues and Pilotage Rates, Fees under the "Merchant Shipping Act," and the "Arms Act, 1860." These receipts, except Pilotage which is Provincial Revenue, he pays into the Bank daily, to the credit of the Colonial Treasurer, rendering a weekly statement of the same, and an account at the end of every month, supported by duplicates of tho merchants' bills of entry and other vouchers. This account is declared to before a Magistrate, and is certified as correct by the Landing Surveyor. In addition to the duties devolving upon the Collector under the several Customs Acts, he has various functions to discharge under the " Marine Board Act," the " Steam Navigation Act," the / "Arms Act," the " Passengers' Acts, 1855 and 1863," and the " Merchant Shipping Act." Under the last named Act especially, he has very responsible duties to perform in connection with the Registration of Shipping. The Landing Surveyor, under tho direction of the Collector, superintends the AVaterside and Warehousing departments. He sees that the Collector duly charges himself with all moneys received, checks over, and re-computes all the entries each day, duplicates of which are handed to him, enters them in his cash book under the particular heads for which the duties have been received, and signs the weekly and monthly statements, which are sent in to the Treasury to show that all the revenue has been duly accounted for ; keeps a book for registering ships' reports inwards, and the appointment of Landing AVaiters to them; compares the ship's reports with the quantity of goods landed, aud checks the Landing AVaiters' work, including the gauges and weights, &c., of goods entered for the AVarehouse. Landing AVaiters take an account of, and examine, ail goods landed from the vessels under their inspection; weigh, gauge, and measure goods entered for the AVarehouse, entering the particulars in books which are delivered to them for that purpose. First Clerk computes the entries, and receives for the Collector tho duties payable thereon, receives also the Light Dues and other revenue, examines Ships' Reports, keeps Pilotage, Lighthouse Dues, and deposit detail cash books, prepares abstract of cash accounts for Treasury, as well as portions of the Quarterly Trade and Shipping Returns. Second and Third Clerks assist generally- in the Long Room, and prepare account of Imports and Exports, and various Statistical and other returns. AVarchousekeeper keeps the Warehouse Ledger, which contains an account of all the goods entered for the AVarehouse, and of the deliveries out of Bond for Home Consumption, Removal or Exportation. In this book a Dr. and Cr. account of each parcel of goods in the various Warehouses is shown, and a balance is struck at the end of every quarter, when a transcript of the whole is sent in to the Auditor accompanied by the proper Bills of Entry for every transaction. Every entry in this account is compared by the Collector with the Bills of Entry and AVarrants relating to the same, and he certifies that all goods for which AVarehousing entries have been passed during the quarter are duly entered therein. The actual stock in the AVarehouses is also checked by the Collector or Landing Surveyor with the balances in the AVarehousekecper's Ledger once a quarter. Goods are delivered from the AVarehouse on orders to the Locker from the Warehousekeeper; in the case of goods for Home Consumption these orders are signed on his receiving a warrant from the Collector showing that the duty has been paid ; and in the case of goods to be removed to some other port, or from one AVarehouse to another in the same port, or for exportation, on receipt of a similar document which is granted when the requisite bond has been entered into by the remover or exporter. The Lockers have charge of the Bonded AVarehouses: they take an account of the marks and numbers of all Bonded Goods received, aud enter the same in books kept for that purpose at the various warehouses. They give receipts in the Landing AVaiters' Bed Books, which contain particulars of the weight, gauge, or measurement of goods for the warehouse. These books, after being checked by the Landing Surveyor, are handed to the AVarehousekeepcr, who enters their contents into his ledger.

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SERVICE COMMISSIONERS.