, a+ ( Ireland.)— EIGHTH REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS [ APPx. No. 2. The Examinat'on of PAUL TWIGG, Esquire; taken upon Oath, the 15th and 16th of March, 4th April and 12th of May 1808. This Examinant saith, That he is at present Clerk of the AbstraCts in the office of the Accountant General for the Customs, to which situation he was lately appointed. Previous to the appoint- ment of separate Accountants for the Cufloms and Excife, he was Clerk of the AbftraCts, and Examiner of Arrears for both thefu branches of the Revenue. The Inland Duties on Hearths, Carriages, Servants and Windows, are required to be brought to charge by the ColleCtors of Excife in their Weekly AbftraCts as received from° the Hearth- money Collectors, Inland Fines and Seizures quarterly. The Collectors make entries of, and charge themfcives with the duties of Inland Excife in their Weekly Abftracts, in many inftances not only brfore they are received, but before they are made payable by Law; viz. at the time that they are returned in the charging Officer's Voucher. The Vouchers of the Strong Waters and Tobacco Duties are required to be returned to the ColleCtor weekly, and fhould make a charge againft him in his fucceeding Weekly AbftraCt. The Duties on Malt, Leather, Paper, Paper- hangings, and Glafs- bottles, are required to be made up monthly, viz. on the 25th of each month, except in June and beptcmber, in the former they are made up to the 24th, and in the latter up to the 29th. The Collector is required to debit himfelf in his Weekly AbftraCt for the Duties fo made up, on or before the 5th of the fucceeding month ; the Quit and other Rents filling due at Michaelmas and Eafter, the ColleCtors are requi'ed to charge themfelves with in the Abftract of the week next after they fall clue. The firft article in the Weekly AbftraCt is the balance brought from the AbftraCt of the preceding week ; this balance in moft cafes comprehends not only the cafh actually in hand, but alio the amount of the bills remitted by the Collector to the Receiver General, which are either not ye: paid, or for which the Collector has not yet received an acquittance. " For though the Board fome time back ifiued a general order that the Collectors fhould take credit in their Weekly Abflracls for the bills remitted to the Receiver General as they were lent, vet on a reprefentation made by the Accountant General and this Exan. inanr, of the inconve- nience that he thought would rcfult from the adoption of this meafure, the order li2s not been enforced, but remains in a manner fufpended, and has in a few inftances only been complied with. In thofe cafes therefore, where credit is taken in the Collector's AbftraCts, for bills as they are remitted, the balance does riot include the unacquired bills. The balance comprehends alfo the arrears of Crown Rents, and of ail Duties, except fuch as have been transferred to the Infolvent Lift, incurred in the current or any former years. On the debit fkJe of the Colleger's Abftract the produce of the current week, comprehending the fums received for Duties not before brought to charge by him, and the fums then fit ft brought to charge, but payable at a future time, are added to this balance; on the credit fide are entcied the remittances by fuch Collectors as take credit for bills remitted, and by fuch as do not, the acquittances commonly called the Exchequer Acquittances, received within the week from the Receiver General, on account of bills paid, or cafh received ; then follow the feveral weekly payments made by him under various other heads; the Account is then balanced. It is this balance which forms the firft article of the next Weekly AbstraCt. ' 1 A separate Account of the arrears of Crown Rents and of Excife Duties, is fet forth in another part of the AbstraCt, containing firft, all the arrears ouiftanding of the preceding years ( exclusive of Insolvent Arrears, which arc never noticed by ColleCtors in their Weekly or Monthly AbstraCts) under their fevcral heads ; and fecondlv, the arrears ot the current year, entered under the fame heads, and placed a° ainft the months in which they had refpeftively accrued. Under the heads of Surcharges on Malt and Surcharges on Strong Waters, very large fums are often returned and con- tinued in the Arrear Account, in the AbftraCts, for feveral months; they principally con lift of charges for fhorc work. The fums actually received for the Excife Duties, and for the Quit and other Rents do not appear upon the Weekly AbftraCt as it is now fumed, othcrwife than by a reduction of the Claims of Arrears. The