THE CUSTOMS EXPERT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13985, 19 August 1907, Page 5

THE CUSTOMS EXPERT.

DETAILS AND HISTORY OF THE

APPOINTMENT.

STATEMENT BY MR SHANNON.

| (From Oim Own CoRREsrosuEXT.) I ... , , WELLINGTON, .August 18. tho whole of the circumstances connected with the appointment of the chief Customs ".port (Mr Shannon) have not been disclosed, and the inquiry promised bv Sir •loseph Ward will be awaited with' considerable interest. From inquiries and researches 1 have made since Iho matter was discussed in the House I am able to give the facts of tho case prelly fully. TIIK QUESTION OF PAYMENTS. " It app«»rs that the total payments made to Mr Shannon are not covered by his salary of £800 a year and travelling excuses. Even including the oxoenses ho gets for days on which he does not travel, he gets in addition a portion of tho lines which, through his instrumentality, have been imposed upon delinquent importers. I am given to understand that tho amount is one-fourth of the lines, the sums paid being at the discretion of the Commissioner of Customs, who is empowered by the act of 1882 to pay to the officer a certain sum of such fines or recoveries. The matter is dealt with in a comprehensive manner by the act. Clause 234, which has a special bearing upon such payments, reads as follows:—"The commissioner may also order to bo paid or distributed out'of the said revenue to or amongst any officer or officers or other person or pereons by whom or through whose means or information any seizure shall have been made or penalty recovered or adjudged to be paid under this or any other act relating to Ihc Customs such reward as the commissioner may see fit, Hot exceeding, as the case may be, the amount of the proceeds or the value, as determined by the commissioner, of such seizure or the amount of the penalty." So far as Mr Shannon is concerned, therefore, it will bo seen that there is nothing illoral in his receiving a portion of tho fines imposed, or, indeed, the'whole of them. It is, however, a debatable point whether it is advisable to pay a poriion of lines, etc., lo an officer through whose efforts such lines may bo imposed.

THE STORY OF THE APPOINTMENT. Tho history of the original appointment and the subsequent appointments would mako interesting reading, At the t.imo of the appointment ihe Atkinson Administration was in power, and .Mr Shannon, who was a friend of Mr Ballaneo, was about to contest, the Rangitikei seat in the Opposition interest. The appointment, however, was heartily approved by -Mr Ballancc, wlio supported the Atkinson (Government in making it, Tim first reference to tho appointment, so far as a hurried searcli has enabled me to ascertain, was shortly after it was made. Speaking in the House on August 17, 1889, Sir Harry Atkinson said that Mr Shannon's salary was £800 and 30s a day travelling allowanco "when travel-, ling on public service." Tho engagement' was to bo for 12 months. Mr Shannon, ho said, was engaged practically by tho year, and tho Government was of opinion that ho would bo required for three ycare. It was not proposed to appoint a permanent, officer at all. The vote, he said, was an annual one, and there was iro question as to tho valuable services Mr Shannon ]iad rendered. '

Though Sir Harry Atkinson slated t-liat the travelling ' allowance was only to bo paid when Mr Shannon was traveling on public service, there is, 1 believe, a letter on the files signed by the We Mr George Fishor, who was Minister of Customs at tho time, stating that the travelling allowance was to include stays in Wellington. It appears that the appointment <on these conditions was renowed by Mr Ballance, and later on by Seddon. The (act., however, that the salary and travelling expenses were buried up under the heading of contingencies led to tho matters beinj lost sight of by a,' jicw generation ol politicians. DEMAND FOR INFORMATION. Then came tho memorable stonewall of September, 1698, when tho Opposition mado a gallant and successful fight in the puhlic interest for the earlier production of tho Public Works Statement, the production of the B1 return, and the details of tho contingencies. The Opposition divided itself into watches, Mr Massey taking tho night watch, and for some 70 hours the fight wont on. Shortly after midnight on tho Thursday the galleries wero cleared, and a detailed account of the subsequent proceedings would have been lost but for tho fact that a lady journalist sat up all night in the ladies' gallery reporting the proceedings. Both the press reporters and the Hansard reporters were cleared out of their galleries, and tho lady sitting alono in the gallery was the sole spectator of the strange scene, a graphic description of which was given next day in the columns of tho Otago Daily Times. At 8 o'clock on tho Friday morning the Opposition, tired out with their oxer'tiona and their long vigil, were on the point of being beaten, tho last man 'of tho watch having almost finished his last specch, when old Mr Thomson, of the Clutha, the vanguard of tho i.ew watch, walked in and saved tho situation Ho began to talk in his quaint, measured way about spring, and in particular about the swallow as tho harbinger of spring. He had quite a lot of information about swallows, and at last when tl.e Chairman pulled him un for needless repetition, be introduced the cuckoo, t!m idiosyncrasies of this bird giving him still morn scope. The result of ihat 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 Mr Seddon. published about the inth September, lf9B. One of tho immediate results of this fight was that a few dlys later, in reply to Mr Lang, the details of contingencies in the Customs Department' amounting to £'1100 were given, showing that the Customs expei I, got £800 a year. It was not shown what travelling exiienses Mr Shannon received, the travelling expenses of various, officers (£821) being lun.pcd together. The rewards to officers in connection with seizures wero shown to he £526. SOME CRITICISMS OF THE OFFICER. After this (hero were on several'occasions criticisms of tho officer made in Parliament.. Mr Millar, the present Minister of Customs, was one of the most Irenehant of tho critics. In August, 1902, Mr Millar asked what was the ptirpo?e or business of this export. It was, he said, supposed that he advised tho Government to prevent frauds, but his true purpose seemed to' be to do anything he could to injure local industries. Whenever raw material was 'imported it was the constant endeavour, of this expert to impose conditions that would make it impossible to carry on the business of manufacturing. If Ihat was the purpose for which the expert held office, then the sooner they wiped out this item the better.- Mr Millar added that lie conld keep them going till midnight with illustrations of jiliis expert's anomalous decisions. Some of the most absurd' things a man had ever heard of had been done by tho export. Oil the 15th September, 1903, Mr Fowlds, another member of the present Ministry, criticised the expert. While expressing the opinion that Mr Shannon's salary should be increased, lie pointed out that "as the result of tho manipulations and interpretations under tho Customs Act, people we're being very heavily taxed indeed." Ho referred to cotton piece goods, "under which head nearly £10,000 a year was being squeezed out of the taxpayers more than wouldhave been the case under tho interpretations of the Customs and Excise Duties Act of 1895." During the same debate Mr Arnold protested against spies and detective. 1 ) being employed by this or any other department if they wore goinp receive rewards for that, which they did in addition to their ordinary salaries. It was bad enough to liavo spies for sly grog-shops. Mr Fowlds also referred to the 11 inaccnratc and variable decisions of lliis officer." In answer to a question by Mr Arnold. Mr Mills. Minister for Customs at- the time, siated that in cases where the officers of tho department detected attempts at fraud by the alteration of invoices, etc., they were rewarded. It was moved to reduce Mr Shannon's salary by £50. but the motion was defeated by 39 to 22. MR SHANNON'S STATEMENT OF THE CASE. Writing to Mr Glasgow on the sth inst., Mr Shannon maker? tho following statement With reference to our conversation on Saturday respecting my travelling allowance, which extends to Wellington a-s woll a 6 to other towns in tho colony, you are aware of the facts which I shall stato for the information of the Hon. Mr Millar, tho present Minister of the department. In 1888 the first protective tariff was

passed, and the House made such a muddle of it, that the oflioers of Customs could not properly interpret it for duty-collecting purposes, more particularly in the drapery portion. At Sir Harry Atkinson's request; • I undertook to classify it, and'he'.was so • well satisfied with my knowledge that ho offered mo the position which I at present ? hold. For some months we could nss come to terms as to salary and allowances. ! I asked £1500 a year and travelling exposes, undertaking to prevent frauds which I know were being carried on and which would save to the Government at' least from £10,000 to ■ £12,000 a year. . These may appear largo figures, but sub- ■ sequent events proved that I was correct. Sir Harry Atkinson stated 'to the House in 1889 that he hold in his hand a Hat supplied by the Secretary of Customs allowing that. Mr Shannon had recovered duties and prevented frauds during the sevenmonths ot his service amounting to over £5000, which nioro than justified tho appointment. In discussing the question of salary Sir Harry told mo tliat tlio IIouso" would not pass tho amount I wanted, but ' that- ho could offer me tho salary and expenses of a Minister—viz., £800 a. year and 30s a day travelling expenses.—that ho could not ask the House for more, as they wero reducing all salaries 10 polecat,, but that he would make my travelling allowance cover my. stay in Wellington, which would be almost equal to what I wanted. This was not satisfactory 'to mo at tho time. On my leaving, the Secretary, Mr 11. S. MacKollar, who was most anxious to obtain mv services on j account of tho muddle the department had got into, asked mo to put in a formal application stating my qualifications, las he had no doubt the Government would arrange with me as to tonus. This letter 'will bo found in, my papers. I told Sir Marry Atkinson that I would consult Mr Ballanco on the matter, and that in any case I could nob take tho appointmenl without ' doing so, as J had arranged with him to contest, the Hanjritikei seat at tho general election. I went to Wanganui aomo time after and saw Mr Bnlhince, who advised rtio to take tho ■appointment, as ho believed I could servo the country better in preventing the fraud*., ho know wire going on than if I went info the House. He told mo to toll Sir H, Atkinson that so impressed was he with tho necessity of the appointment that, if he (Sir Harry) gave mo £1000 a. year and 50s travelling allowance, including 'my stay in Wellington, as Leader of the "Opposition he would support, it in the- House. In October, 1888. I acceijted .Sir Harry's forms under a three years' engagement, which was embodied in' an agreement made by him and signed by his Commissioner of Customs, Mr Fishoi' ( which .1 hold, and a copy of same will l:e found in my papers, which clearly set out tho condition. At the end of the three yearn of my employment Mr Ballance, who was then Primo Minister, ratified and extended the agreement. Mr Seddon. when he-succeeded to the Premiership, • having n full knowledge of tho fact that my salary was £800 a year and 30s a day travelling allowance, including my stay in ' Wellington, approved a-nd continued the agreement, Ho complimented me on the work I had done and the large leakages I had prevented in Customs duties, saying that ill 1889 ho spoko in tho House against tho .appointment, but it was only when ho becamo a Minister that ho saw the vnluo of my services. Higher commendation 1 want from no man, but I am certain that you, Mr, Glasgow, above all others, know Ihc vnluo of my services, and I fed confident that you will admit that no man in the department has ever carried out his duties with more zeal and efficiency than myself. I admit that so-called exports can be got for from £200 to £300 a year, but. what use would thev bo to yoii in advising on the intricate questions of tariffmaking or in. proventin" tho fraudulent attempts made on the Customs that are cropping up from dav to day? Should the Shoddy and Mixed Cotton and Wool Cloths Bill pass, these inexperienced 'men would land tho department, in no end of trouble. In conclusion, I may lw permitted to respectfully assert that the Government cannot socuro to-day a- man in the Australian colonies or in New Zealand with my knowledgo and experience in all 'departments of" trade, and who understands the Customs work as I do, nt less than £1500 a year and 30s a day travelling allowance, including his etaj in Wellington."