Duties.] ON F E E S , G R A T U I T I E S , & c. • and become part of other offices. The ColleCtor of Dublin County, at the time he was charged with receiving the Duties on Licences to retail Spirits and other excifeable commodities, appears to have been in the receipt of a very considerable Revenue, which became of much lefs im- portance by placing the iffue of Retail Spirit Licences under the manage- ment of the Stamp Office ; and fince the iffue of every defcription of • Licence has been transferred to that Department, will probably in future not exceed an annual receipt of between £. 9,000 and £. 10,000. The Office of this ColleCtor being held under the fame roof with that of the Collector of the Citv, we think that his functions might be advantage- v O © oufly blended with thofe of the latter, and a faving be thus made of £. 1,400 per annum. The Licence Officers confift of two Surveyors, eight Officers, two Supernumerary ditto, and one Affiftant, receiving faiaries altogether amounting to £. 1,102. 5/. per annum. The duties of thefe Officers • are ftated to us to be confined to the city of Dublin, as bounded bv the circular road, and to confift in feeing that all perfons dealing in excife- able articles, have taken out the Licences required by Law. We are informed by a Surveyor of Licences, that fince his appointment in 1803, notwithftanding the aCtive exertions of himfelf and his Officers, 110 dif- covery has been made by any of them of perfons felling without Licence, and we alfo find that no Officers of this defcription are employed in any other part of Ireland. From the nature of the duty to be performed, we think- a ieparate Eftablifhment for that purpofe unnecefTary, and in this opinion the Surveyor General of Licences fully concurs. We con- ceive that the duties, which thefe Officers are fuppofed to execute, might be performed in Dublin by the ordinary Surveyors and Gaugers of the - different furveys and walks, in like manner as in other diftricts. From the Returns made by the Stamp Office to the Commiffioners of Excife, the particulars of the different perfons licenfed in each furvey and walk might be extraCted and delivered to the Surveyor and Gauger, who would have only, in the courfe of their ordinary rounds, to fee that 110 perfons not contained in their Lifts were felling commodities lubjeCt to Licence ; and as perfons 1b offending are liable to a heavy penalty, the half of which goes to the Informer, we fhould fuppofe thefe Officers would be aCtive in their endeavours to make fuch dete& ions. The preventive Officers ft- ationed in the diftricts above enumerated, are expeCted out of their faiaries, amounting in the whole to £. 2,401. • to provide and maintain fufficient parties to affift them in the execution of their duty. From the fmall number of feizures made by them, there feems reafon for doubting whether the benefit which. the Public derives from the Eftablifhment, might not be equally well obtained at much lefs expence, by employing preventive Officers without falary, or by adding to the number of regular Officers in thofe fituations, where additional - exertion is required. At the fame time, however, that we propofe to abolifh that defcription of preventive Officers to whofe fituation faiaries are attached, we apprehend great benefit may ftill be derived from the continuance of a body of preventive Officers without falary, in fuf- ficient numbers, and judicioufly ftationed. As Officers of this defcrip- tion will have to draw their fupport wholly from the detection of illegal .52. Cc practices, 99 Appendix, N8 39. Appendix, Na 40. Appendix, N° 37. Appendix, N° 4i. Appendix, N° 4a. Appendix, N° 37. Appendix, N* 43.