( Ireland.)— Seventh REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS [ Excite. and on the Officer in charge ; but when no memorandum is made, either in the flock- books, or fpecimen papers of the receipt of fuch notices, nor any account of them required at the hands of the Surveyor, it manifelt, that by collufion with thofe Officers, the Manufadurer will be able to avoid the monthly charges, as often as the pretence of difcon- tinuance is not precluded by the accidental vifits of an InfpeChng Officer, at the fame time that, detection of the fraud becomes difficult; if the Manufacturer is found at work, he alledges the notice of difcontinuance to have been abandoned, and the difcovery to be fought, by a reference to the daily entries of the ftock- book, is avoided,' by fetting up the day1 of unlooked- for infpe& ion, as the day of recommencement, and thus, however much fufpicion may be awakened, deteftion is eafily baffled. A danger analogous to this, and againft which no fufficient provifion feems to have been contemplated by the Law, attaches to the liberty of abating the monthly charge, which is permitted to Paper- makers, upon giving due notice of changing the employment of their Engines, from a higher to a lower Clafs of the manufacture. In this cafe, although only a part of the Duty can be evaded, yet the fraud is more practicable than. Appx N315. by a pretended difcontinuance. The Officer in charge is the only perlbn 011 whom the notice of fuch change is direCted to be ferved, and as the vifits of his immediate fuperior, the Surveyor, appear to have rarely been .. App* N° 14. made oftener than once in the month, and thofe of InfpeCtors ftill lefs frequently, information of fuch notices never' reaches either of thefe Officers, except accidentally, and by verbal communication ; the abate- ment therefore of the monthly charee, to the extent of half the Dutv, is j o ' J7 altogether in the power of the Gauger, unlefs in cafes when he happens . to be controuled. by his entries in the ftock- book, a praCtice calculated to afford a moft beneficial check, if it were uniformly oblerved. The' fervice of notices of difcontinuance fhould not only be rigidly enforced, but the receipts fhould be iiiftantly noted in the fpecimen ' papers and ftock- books by the Gauger, and the communication formally acknow- ledged 011 the firft opportunity, by the Surveyor's fubfeription to the entry both in the fpecimen paper and ftock- book, by which means, not only would collufion between thefe Officers and the Trader be checked, but the advantage'of fdbjeaing this branch of the Officer's duty to the farther revifion of the Examiner of Surveyors and Ganger's books would be fuperadded. The fame regulations fhould alfo, we think, be applied . to the notices of change from one Clafs of the manufacture to another, for which purpofe it will be requifite that a correfpondent alteration of the Law fhould precede the neceflary inftruftions to the Officers. With refpea to the regiftry of the Manufacturer's concerns, required to be returned to the Colle& or, a limilar laxity feems to have prevailed : in many inftanceswe obferve the return of them to have been totally omitted and, where not altogether omitted, that the entries have contained no ipecification of the dimenfions either of Engines or Vats, and have con- fequently been altogether inefficient to furnilh that Officer with any check upon the charges incurred. The danger accruing from this de- fective form of regiftry is indeed partiallv, but ftill very imperfeaiv " N° * " ^ e flock- books, which fpecifying only the " diZS LnSines' ^ omitting, thofe 0f the Vats, have ail comparifon of, or check