m ( Ireland.) - Seventh REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS ( Excife.- tion that the manufadure of tanned Leather in Ireland has latterly' App" NJt 10, „: decreafed. The import of drefled Skins has perhaps of late years in- creafed The Duties, however, on dreffed Skins have been always too inconfderable to admit, that the decline of this branch of the trade ihould ever materially affed the produce of the Leather Duties. We are therefore inclined to regard this deficiency, as the refult of greater' expertnefs in evading the Affeffment, an evafion which feems much fa- cilitated by the manner in which the collection of this Duty is concluded ; App* N" 6 St 12. the Tanners, inftead of making returns according to Law, of the lepa- rate content of each Pit, are permitted to return the aggregate contents of all that are intended for regiftry, and in cafes of difcontinuance, to • omit all fpecification of particulars, except the grofs dimenfions of the Pits, to which their notices apply, fo that a fuperior Officer at his vifit, can have no means of afcertaining the truth of any notice, but bv a61u2.1 meafurement, an operation requiring both time and labour, where the number of Pits is great. To obviate this defeat it might, we fubirit, ' ' be defirable to have the feveral Pits chargeable with Duty, in refped of the AfTefTment, numerically diftinguifhed; to require the fpecification of the number and cubical content of each to be inlerted in the regifter ; to compel a copy thereof to be entered in the fpecimen paper, and re- main in the Tanner's premifes, to be referred to by any viliting Officer, and another copy to be entered in the Officer's ftock- books. A like fpecification of number and contents fhould be contained in every notice of difcontinuance or recommencement, and copies of fuch notices from time to time entered, both in the fpecimen paper, and in the flock- books. From the beft eftimate we can form, it feems probable, that the Duties on Skins do not at prefent produce more than £. Soo. or JT. 900. per annum, a fum confiderably lefs than the produce in 1799, excluding from the account the Duties on Seal Skins, which are ufually tanned in bark. It is to be apprehended, that the fmall proportions in which thefe Duties become due, may have rendered the Officers in charge, indifferent towards the colledion of them; and it may well be doubted, if at any time they have been fufficiently productive to warrant the expence of colledion by furvey. To have recourfe, therefore, to a pure Licence Duty, feems peculiarly eligible in this inftance, and whatever may be the objections to the fyftem of pure Licence, with refped to the commercial intercourfe between this Country and Great Britain, it is to be obferved, that they apply to the AffelTment on the Pits, and that hitherto none of^ tfte- incon- veniencies to be apprehended have been found to arife. The^ fetUnty of the Excife Duties on Leather, would in fuch cafe require little"' moi'e than the occafional vifits of Infpeding Officers, whofe duty would then be confined to a companion of the regifter, or of the notices of difconti- nuauce or recommencement, as the cafe might be, with the ftate of the Pits; and if fairly and ftridly executed would, in the end, deter both the Traders and Officers in charge, from further attempts at fraud or 39 Geo. nr. c. 39. collufion. Notwithftanding the Ad of the 39th of Geo. 3. continued by the Ad of 40th Geo. 3. c. 9. and by feveral further continuances, down to Ceo. in. c48. and including the 47th Geo. 3. impofing the Duty on Hides tanned with bark, by an AffefTment on the cubical contents of the Pits, in lieu of all 40Geo. in. c. 4. other Duties, yet by the 40th of Geo. 3. and its feveral continuances 47 Gen. m. c. , s down to and including the 47th Geo. 3., a Duty of 1 - d. per lb. in lieu of all