WINE DUTIES IN 1822.

3

themselves, preferring to employ agents; some of whom, though receiving salaries of only 3001. or 4007., left fortunes of 100,000l. Many firms paid them 4/6 for each entry; and when it was of importance to get the cask off on the same day, what was called a Reading-out entry was necessary, for which an additional 1/6 was charged. The next day, on showing the Excise warrant, a permit was granted for the person to whom the wine was to be sent; and this being shown to the excise officer at the vault, he compared it with the delivery order of the dock company. If the customs officer happened to be near, the delay might not be very great; but as it was necessary that the two should be present together to 'pass' the cask, a most tedious waste of time was often the result.

Increase, or reduction, of the duty, at that time, and until 1824, was made by adding or deducting so much per tun; and this being divided by the number of gallons in the tun, gave the rates per old gallon. Part was paid to the Excise, and the remainder to the Customs. The whole, upon Port, Sherry, Cape, &c., was 7/7, of which the Excise received 4/2, and the Customs 3/5. On Madeira it was 7/8, on Rhenish 9/5, and on French 11/5; each branch of the revenue receiving its proportion of these sums.

After wine was permitted' out of the docks into the dealers' cellars, French and Cape had to be kept

separate from Port, &c.; and all stocks were under Excise supervision, so that even twelve bottles were not allowed to be sent out without a permit, causing much trouble and loss of time. But as there was no prohibition against sending out eleven bottles (less than 2 gallons), cellars might be thus legally emptied; and as permits were often not drawn for sales to private customers, credits with the Excise were thus gained, and permits frequently given to oblige dealers who had received wine without a permit out of private cellars. As to the form of keeping the French,' French not,' and 'Cape,' separate, it was a mere farce, for all who chose could evade it.

·

It was generally known on which day the officer's visit might be expected; and as he could often find means to give annoyance, a dinner and a good bottle of wine were usually ready for him.

I recollect an instance, in my own experience, of the way these officers sometimes acted. On a shelf in my counting-house there stood sixteen or seventeen bottles of French wines which had been sent as samples, for which I could show no permit. To my astonishment, I received a letter, nearly a foot long, freighted with, at least, a quarter of a pound of wax; and on opening it, found that it was from the 'Honourable Sirs' in the old Excise Office in Old Broad Street, ordering me to appear before them for breaking the law, for which I was liable to a penalty of 50l. I went as commanded,

OLD REVENUE SYSTEM.

5

and was ushered into a large room with a green table, round which were three very solemn-looking gentlemen, and the officer standing at the end. He told his story, and I told mine, and the Honourable Sirs were so kind as to let me off, with the forfeiture of the wine, and two guineas, one of which the officer got. I do not know how the unfortunate sixteen bottles were appropriated, but I hope that a few of them were uncorked, to enliven the lugubrious faces of the three men round the green table.

All goes on so easily now, that some may doubt whether such things could have existed only a comparatively short time ago, but I can assure the incredulous that her Majesty's revenue officers were almost ubiquitous. There are few who have not had experience of their presence on arriving from a foreign country, but I can state from personal knowledge that on one occasion I was not allowed to go to a foreign country without having my portmanteau searched : it was in 1823, when, embarking at Newhaven for Dieppe, a strict examination was made to discover if I was carrying abroad any models or plans of machinery! A few years previously, just after the war, great distress existed, and many weavers from Paisley wished to emigrate. It was feared that they would carry with them our skill in weaving, and the customs officers in Greenock, and, suppose, in other parts, had instructions to examine the hands of emigrants, and to stop those who had soft, weaver-like hands!

I

The excise officers were generally men who had been trained to, and understood, their work; but many of the customs officers were old butlers, gardeners, &c., who got their appointments by parliamentary influence, and were of course entirely ignorant of their duties. Even their superiors both at the Excise and Customs boards, at that time consisted, with few exceptions, of men whose lives had been passed in occupations unfitted to qualify them for such important posts.

The whole system, in short, was a mass of confusion, annoyance, delay, and expense; but I remember that, bad as it was, it was keenly defended by all the old clerks and others who had surmounted its difficulties and mysteries, and were therefore opposed to every change which tended to deprive them of their monopoly by facilitating the despatch of business.

There is still much room for simplification and improvement, but those who have now to do with revenue officers can have but a slight conception of the very superior class of men they are, in contrast with those of former years.

Since that period a great change has taken place in the way of conducting the wholesale part of the trade. Then it was very unusual to purchase even a single cask without going to the docks to taste it; but now, sales are almost invariably made by samples. Formerly, every house of importance had a partner or a representative to show their bonded stock; and

TASTING AT THE EAST VAULT.

7

there were generally from fifteen to twenty to be found, every afternoon, at their usual exchange, at the East Vault, London Docks. The only shelter being an open shed, it was often cold shivering work in the winter, waiting without anything to do but to gossip about people and things, and scandal, true or false.

It was also necessary to attend to the landing of wines, to see that they were properly laid up for gauging, to have them sampled, to taste them, to report opinion, and to have those housed on which duty had not been paid. I have often thought of an amusing piece of red-tapism connected with these proceedings. The Act of Parliament stated that all casks brought into the docks must be bonded; and thus a cask that was to be sent from the quay would be actually placed in the slings, lowered into the vaults till it touched the ground, and then hoisted up into the wagon waiting for it. Without this ceremony it was feared that there would be an infringement of the Act.

No casks smaller than a hogshead, nor cases of less than three dozen, were then admitted for home use. The broad arrow' was put upon them, but the Honourable Board, after a week's deliberation, generally condescended to let them pass with 'a fine.'

When a west-end, or country, or other dealer came to the Docks, he was probably the known customer of one of the houses; and, addressing himself to its