Appendix, N ® 33. Appendix, 34 & 35. 7inance of Ireland, : ii> o;, page 62. Ibid, 180S, i> aSe 59. Appendix, NM3?).& 37. Appendix, N* 38. ^ Ireland.)— Eighth REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS [ E- xcife jvith its ColIe£ tion from receiving fees under any pretence, if the very liberal augmentation of their falaries made, as we understand, with this view, did not fufficiently teflify the importance attached by Government to this meafure. Unlets.,' however, effectual means be taken to infure, as far as is practicable, the appointment of Officers, qualified by their expe- rience and information, to difcharge the duties of their refpective offices, and a ftri£ t discipline , be maintained, in iiiforcing, by a due distribution cf rewards and punifhments, the execution of their feveral functions, we fear that the increafe of the . expence confequent upon . this arrangement, will only prove an ufelefs expenditure. It is likewife of infinite impor- tance to guard againft offices of truft and refponfibility being made the fubjeft of traffick ; and for this purpofe we find that certain oaths have been framed and direfled to be taken, as well by the perfon retiring from any office, in the refpeCtive departments of the Cuftoms and Excife, as by his fucceffor. On fome occafions, however, thefe oaths have been difpenfed with in confequence of the orders of Government, an inftance of which, in the cafe of the ColleCtor of Killybegs, particularly calls for cenfure, as it appears that 011 quitting his office he owed a balance of £. 3,444. 12 s. 11 d., of which 3,3360 3s. yd. remained due on the 5th January 1808. In order to give a general view of the perfons employed in the Depart-, ment under the management of the Board of Excife, the nature of their offices, the lources and amount of their emoluments, we have inferted in the Appendix, Returns cf the Efiablifhment as it Rood on the 5th January 1804, and 5th July 180S, refpeCtively. The former fhews what were the emoluments acknowledged by the refpe£ ti. ve Officers in their Returns, made at a time when the receipt of fees was tolerated ; the latter, the amount of their falaries as they are now fixed, and the expence which has been incurred by the appointment of additional Officers, in confequence of the Separation of the Boards. The annual expence of this Department, on account of falaries of Officers, amounts t0 10\ d., of which fum £. 50,330. 131. 4\ d. has been incurred by an augmentation of falaries, and f. 24,926. 1 ys. 3 d. by the appointment of additional Officers. Though, in confequence of the Reparation of the Boards, and the prohibition of the receipt of fees by the Officers, an increafcd expence to a very confiderable amount was unavoidably occalioned in this Department, it may be worthy of confi- deration, whether 011 any future appointment to fome of the offices, the rate of falaries, in fixing which regard was perhaps at firft neceffarily had to compenfation for the lofs of fees, might not admit of reduction; we refer particularly to fome of the appointments in the refpe& ive Offices of the Secretary, the Examiner of Surveyors and Gangers Books, and of the Examiner of Excife. Befides the faving that might, we conceive, be thus efFe£ ted, an obvious method of reducing the charges of this Depart- ment is to be found in the difcontinuance of fuch offices as have become ufelefs or unneceffary. To this defcription belong the offices of Colledtor of Dublin County, the Licence Officers attached to this office, and of the feveral preventive Officers Rationed in the diftriCts of Cavan, Sli^ o, ' K illy begs and Tralee, which, although they are not diverted of all duties, are neverthelefs fo circumftanced, as that they might properly fmk into and