IB k: QQ ( Irelandt)— FIFTH REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS - [ Appx. v. / that the Redlifiers are hardy enough, or clumfy enough, to refort to fuch an Expedient. I am ftrongly grounded in this Opinion from having obferved, that none of the Rectifying Stills are adapted for quick Work; they are in Fad, quite the Reverfe, being upon the old Principle, very deep in Proportion to the Diameter, prefenting but a fmall Surface to the ACtion of the Fire. Therefore as confiderable Capital has been expended in ereCting thefe Diftilleries, which have fo frequently been licenfed, it mull reft with your Lordihips and Honours to decide whether what I have and fhall ftate on this Subject, will render it ex- pedient to infift upon a Change of Situation, or whether ( as 1 confefs I am inclined to think) it will not be fufficient to alter the Syftem, and make the Checks more effectual. At all Events it may be Time enough, fhould the ReCtifiers alter the Form of their Stills, and provide themfelves with fuch as fhall be better adapted for quick working, to have Recourfe to the precautionary Meafure ofinfifting upon lefs Conti- guity, and it may not be unwife to make the Penalty on Detection, infinitely higher. I humbly conceive that I fhall difcharge this Part of my Duty, in reprefenting to your Lordihips and Honours the Neceffity of an immediate Adoption of an ACt of Parliament applicable to this Country, and which ( hall eftablifh the firm and true Syftem of Check, as will eventually place this Department on fo broad a Bafis, that it will not be an eafy Talk to overthrow it. I beg leave therefore, moft humbly to fubmit to your Confideration, the great Channel through which I conceive Fraud may be and is often effected in the Rectify- ing Syltem, together with one general Principle, fimple in its Operation ; the EffeCt ol which, I fhould hope, will be a confiderable, if not an effectual, Bar to the fame. My Conception of the Manner in which thefe Frauds may be accomplifhed with a greater Facility is, in the fending into the ReCtifier fuch Spirits as can he privately made in the Grois Diftillery ; and as I apprehend it can be taken into Stock in the former, and the Increafe permitted out without Danger of Detection, I will now proceed to point out how eafily that can be effeCted. A ReCtifier makes his Arrangement with the Grofs Diftiller, and when both are prepared, the former conceals a Quantity of re& ified Spirits, equal to that of Grofs which he intends to receive; the latter he ( hews to the Officer as Part of his rec- tified Stock, and he then lerves a Notice on the Officer of his Intention to reduce by Water, which when done, and that he has obtained a Credit for the fame, he runs off hat Grofs Spirit fo mixed, which produces one much ftronger and purer, but of Courfe decreafed in Quantity, and having a Credit for Water, he brings into Stock the rectified Spirit he had concealed, and thus obtains a Protection for what never paid any Duty at all. I will fuppofe a ReCtifier can make an Arrangement to receive Ten Puncheons of Spirits that had not paid Duty: he conceals 1,250 Gallons of his rectified Stock, being the Quantity of grofs Spirits he had received, and in the Prefence of the Officer adds 850 Gallons of Water to the grofs Spirit, but which he calls rectified ; about Five Charges of one of the large Stills will work off the Whole, and will produce fomewhut more than Two Thirds of what had been received, or about S50 Gallons of ftrong Spirits. Thus, 1 o Funcheons of private Spirits containing Water added in the Prefence of the Officer Produce of the above in rectified Spirits, being fomewhat \ more than Two- thirds of the Grofs - - - J 1,250 Gallons of rectified Spirits that had been concealed, Gallons. 1,250 850 2.100 and again brought into Stock 850 1,250 2,100 j • 1 Having ftated the Modes by which I conceive the Frauds may moft eafily be carried on in the Rectifying Diftilleries; I beg leave to fubmit the Principles upon which ( fo far as my Judgment enables me to view it) the befl Prevention may be obtained. In ftating this, it is not my Intention to go into the minuter Regulations that may be found necefi'ary to introduce into the Syftem, but merely confine myfelf to a general Outline