FRAUD AND MISMANAGEMENT IN THE CUSTOMS' DEPARTMENT. (From the Sydney Morning Herald-Dec. 10.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XV, Issue 1201, 31 December 1858, Page 4

FRAUD AND MISMANAGEMENT IN THE CUSTOMS' DEPARTMENT. (From the Sydney Morning Herald -Dec. 10.)

During the put month • Board, appointed by the Go+er»raentof the colony.'has been actively engaged j in a searching inquiry into the various unpleasant matters connected with the' €ustoms— principally into ■imposed frauds upon the revenue (in which several officer* of that department and other 1 persons are very lerioualy implicated) ; and secondarily, into any departmental abuse, general mismanagement, or particular • ill considered arrangement which might, in the course >of the enquiry, be brought under notice, as neecssary to be at once dealt with, and effectually guarded against hereafter. The Board- consisting of Captain Ward, Deputy Master of the Mint ; Captain J.MLerie, Inspector General of Police ; and H. H. Browne, Esq., Immigration Agent,— h s already sat upon eleven different days, and examined thirty-five different witnesses, abstracts of whose evidence, oi a voluminous nature and (for tha most part) of a technical character, have ■already appeared in the • Herald, ; the results of this .important 'investigation haying unhappily assumed bo 'matured and explicit a character as fully to demand nnd justify their publication. Although it was intimated by the Chairman to' the Collector of Customs that those officers who were directly interested in the proceedings might be present during the enquiry, none haye *9 yet been so present, owing, as it is now stated, to an ignorance or misapprehension of the above 'permission. As far, however, as the examination 1 has yet gone, whenever the evidence taken has' appeared to bear peculiarly upon any officer's conduct, that officer ■has invariably been called in artd questioned respecting those* points and particular statements by which doubts be raised as to his efficiency or integrity. These the ptrty has answered, and explained, or has beeu silent upon, as thought most advisable. The chief di rection of the questions put by the Board has bfen (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 7tb October, in ballast) again cleared from Sydney *o the South Sea Islands, via Newcastle, on the Bth of October— the v&ry day after her return to port ;— (2 ) .Respecting the equally extraordinary circumstances under which about thirty .seven tons of sugar were ille gaily landed out of » ship named the Fanny Fisher, -discharging cargo in this port in December last year : — and (8.) Respecting the loose, irregular, and improper manner in which the ordinary business of the department—as regards the exportation, the importation, ami 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 New Caledonia, with papers, furnished contrary to regulations, intended to mislead the authorities arid others into the supposition thot a large amount of dutiable goods, on that and 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 lots 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 force, have inevitably caused a loss to the revenue of i>l73, if come person, accidentally concerned, had not felt it to be h<B - interest to pay that amount on a post entry for the sugar which he never received at all. As to the third portion of the inquiry, the evidence shows that there nave been no general regulations in force 6ince they were withdrawn by the British authorities at the inaug uration of Responsible Government in this colony. That a sort of traditional practice has been followed with occasional written and verval orders from the Collector, and that irregularities totally irreconcileable eithsr with the Laws 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 ordi nary and extraordinary duties. That there «re gros6 irregularities in inuividual instances, — such as neglecting to guage 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 npon the revenue, and that such frauds have been tinblmhingly and daringly committed accordingly, and that too with perfect impunity. The evidence also shows thatSßiere are several gentlemen in the Customs whose cuflpuct 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 npon. The respective allotment of duty to the different officers is also bad, and as to any proper system of countercheck, nobody seems responsible to any body. The public wait with interest and anxiety for the report of this Board, and the promise of of some radical alteration and improvement in the department of the Customs. Q