11 2 c. i; ( Ireland.) Eighth REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS [ Excife proper charges,° all the Bills of Cofts of local Agents, ought,, in our opinions, to be invariably taxed by fome public Officer competent to dif- charo- e that duty. Such appears generally to be the practice of the Excife Department, when the Cofts have been incurred in profecutions againft Parifhes as above- mentioned, with the view, we prefume, of duly 47 Geo. III. fefs. z. afcertaining the fums to be reimburfed to the Revenue, the Law dire£ t- jno- that the Cofts of recovering fuch penalties fhould be deduded there- out when levied, unlefs ordered by the Commiffioners of Excife to be paid at the public expence. But notwithftanding that" penalties for fuch offences have been recovered from time to time to a confiderable amount, we find that the Revenue has been reimburfed but a Small portion of the large fums expended in fuch profecutions'. This confidefation, as well as the neceffity of fuch an expenditure being likely often to recur, fo long as the Laws impofing thefe penalties fhall continue to be enforced, and that the whole expence of the profecution, when it fails to produce a convi£ tion, of which there are numerous inftances, muft bo paid by the Revenue, ought to induce fome more oeconomical arrangement for conducting this branch of the Law bufinefs in this Department. While the neceffary difburSe- ments in profecuting thefe Informations are extremely trifling, the pro- fits of the Agents appear, from the Bills of Cofts we have infpected, to be moft exorbitant. Thus from a Bill of Cofts, incurred in profecuting a number of fuch Informations on the North Weft Circuit, in the Spring of 1808, and which had been taxed to r ,491 - 18 s. 5^, it appears that 252 Informations were difpofed of, the Difburfements on which amounted to about 526., leaving the remainder a profit to the Agent. When- ever, therefore, the Informations to be profecuted are fo numerous, infteacl of paying the Cofts taxable 011 each, as is the uftial courfe, we think a fpecific agreement might be made 011 terms oeconomical to the Public, and at the fame time affording; the local Agents a fair and reafonable O O profit, an arrangement not likely to be objected to - on their part, the fituation of local Agent to the Revenue having been confidered at all times an objeCt of folicitation, as much perhaps from the credit attached thereto, as from the emolument derived in ordinary cafes. Befides the Solicitors of Cuftoms and Excife, there are three other Solicitors attached to the latter Department, viz. A Solicitor for the forfeited Eftates, at a Salary of £. 100. per annum. A Solicitor for the cafual Revenue, at a Salary of ico. per annum. And a Solicitor for the King's Rents, at a falary of 1 20. per annum, Appendix, N' 81,82,6c 83. ( A.) Appendix:, N° 81. Appendix, N° 82. Appendix, N° 65. and an annual allowance of £. 30. for a Clerk. All thefe Solicitors furnifh Bills of Cofts for their profeffional fervices, and admit that they do not perform any duty in confederation of their refpedive falaries. The Bills of Cofts of the Solicitor of the forfeited Eftates are regularly taxed by the proper Officer of the Court in which fiich Cofts were in- curred, but their amount is generally very inconfiderable. Thofe of the Solicitor for the cafual Revenue undergo no examination whatsoever, and, though that branch of the Public Income is not fubjeft to the management of the Commiffioners of Excife, his Bills of Cofts, as well as his falary, are paid by and charged to the account of the incidental Expences of that Department. Thefe cofts, which on an average of five