Duties.] ON F E E S , G R A T U I T I E S , . fcc. • that they fhould all be reduced fubftantially to Cafh Accounts, ag is the cafe in the Englifh Excife. For this purpofe we fubmit, that the Col- le6tor's Weekly Abftraft fhould be a fimple Cafh Account, fetting forth the receipts, payments, and remittances of the week; that the I) utie$ brought to charge fhould be debited in the Monthly and Quarterly Ac- counts only, and that in thefe Accounts credit fhould be taken for the pay- ments and remittances made during the month or quarter, and for the current arrears outftanding at the clofe of each refpeftively, the latter tq be placed on the debit fide of the fucceeding Monthly or Quarterly Ac- count ; by fuch. means the balances of thefe Accounts, if correct, would, on the face of them, exhibit an agreement with the balance of the, Weekly Abftra£ t, doting the month or quarter. As the Accounts are now kept, the arrears of . the preceding year are blendicj with . thofe of many years Handing, under the title of " Arrears of former year$ to 5th January laft," and though the grofs receipts 011 account of iuch arrears, may, 011 a comparifon of the Abftra6ts, be collected from the diminution of their amount, fuch a mode is intricate and tedious, and ultimately fails to fhew the date of the arrear in * lilcharge of which a payment has been made, whether on account of the preceding or any former year. In order, therefore, that the ftate of the Arrears fhould be kept conftantly in view, we propofe that the Arrears of former years fhould be feparately ttated in diftin6t Accounts, at the foot of the Weekly and Monthly Abftrafts, under the two- fold divifion of " Old Arrears," and " Arrears of preceding years f' and that two columns, appropriated to the purpofe of - entering the receipts on account of fuch Arrears, fhould be introduced into the body of the Weekly, Monthly and Quarterly Accounts. That the arrears of the current year fhould be Rated at the foot of the Monthly Account, as they are at prefent at that of the Weekly AbftraS, for the purpofe of fnewing the time at which the Arrear under each head of Duty was incurred, and that the Accountant General fhould in his Account give each Col- lector credit for the . current arrears outftanding at the clofe of each - quarter. The Simplicity which thefe charges are calculated to introduce, • might we think be ftill further affifted, if it were poffible to difebarge from the Arrear Account, all fums that were not actually payable. In • offering a lcheme for excluding from the account, the great mafs of no- minal Arrears,, w- e have not loft light of the difficulty that muft always be felt 111 departing from long eftablifhed forms, we are however encoil- Taged by the opinion of the Deputy Examiner of Excife, an Officer well -- qualified by his experience and official Situation to form a corre6t judg- ment on the fubjedt, to hope that the difficulty of effecting this altera- tion will - be neither great nor of long duration. We therefore propofe that a feparate Voucher fhould be made up and returned for each head of Duty, fpecifying the day on which fuch Duty would by Law be payable, that the Collectors fhould be required to charge themfefves in their Monthly and Quarterly Accounts, with thofe Duties only which . fhould have become payable within any month or quarter, and wi'th fuch fums as might be received within fuch periods refpe& ively, on account of Duties not yet due, { taring, under the proper Jhead of Duty, fuch payment io be in advance. . Every Colle& or debiting himfelf with i'ych anticipated payments 91