All the powers and provisions of Customs Acts to be applied to British spirits warehoused in Customs warehouses under this act. Any bond or security to be given under the authority of this act, to be in such amount, and with such conditions, as the Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall direct and approve. penalties to be recovered as other Excise penalties, and sections 129, 132, 133, 134, & 147 of the Act 23 & 24 Vic., c. 114, repealed.

(15.) MALT DUTY FREE FOR FEEDING ANIMALS.

27 Vic., c. 9.

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Any person who shall give security and take out a licence as a maltster, may make malt in a malthouse approved of by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, for the sole purpose of being consumed in the feeding of animals; and all malt so made and mixed with linseed cake or linseed meal, or any other substance, as may hereafter be approved by the said Commissioners, to be free from the duties chargeable on malt; and any maltster making malt for distillery purposes, and not being a distiller, may mix malt with the aforesaid materials for cattle feeding, upon his complying with the provisions of this act.

Every person making malt duty-free under this act, to give security against frauds; the maltster's name to be painted or placed conspicuously upon the principal gate or entrance of his malthouse, together with the words « Entered to make malt to be used in feeding animals." All corn or grain received into any such malthouse to be duly made into malt, and all malt made under this act to be deposited in an approved store-room, and to be removed from store to grindingroom upon such notice and under such regulations as the Commissioners may direct.

Every maltster is required to provide a secure room or rooms in his malthouse, to be approved in writing by the proper collector and supervisor, for the purpose of grinding and mixing the malt made by him in such malthouse; all such rooms to be secured to the satisfaction of the collector and supervisor, and to be at all times kept locked by the officer, and neither the maltster nor his servants to be admitted therein except upon notice.

All malt before removal from the malthouse in which the same shall have been made under this act, to be ground and thoroughly mixed with one-tenth part at the least of its weight of ground linseed cake, or linseed meal, or other substance as aforesaid: such malt and the said material to be ground to such a degree of fineness and in such manner as the Commissioners shall direct and approve, and to be mixed together in a quantity of not less than forty bushels at a time, in the presence of an officer of Excise, and by such means and in such manner as the Commissioners may direct, and for any refusal or neglect on the part of the maltster to comply with any of these requirements, the malt and the material mixed or intended to be mixed therewith to be forfeited.

The maltster to keep an account in a book, to be furnished by the Excise officer, of all malt mixed, and of all mixed malt sent out, and of the name of the person to whom sent, together with such other particulars as the Commissioners may require. Any person separating or attempting to separate any malt from the material with which the same may have been mixed, or who shall use any malt so mixed in the brewing of beer or distilling of spirits, is liable to a penalty of £200 and the forfeiture of the malt and material: and any person found unlawfully removing

malt from a malthouse entered under this act may be arrested and dealt with in manner directed by the 18 & 19 Vic., c. 94, s. 32.*

All the provisions of former acts now in force relating to maltsters or the making of malt, and also the provisions contained in the following sections of the 18 & 19 Vic., c. 94, viz. :—Sections 6, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 31, so far as they relate to maltsters not being distillers, to be applied to the purposes of this act; and Justices making malt under this act not to be disqualified from acting in the granting or transferring of publicans' licences.

The act to be in force for five years from the passing thereof (28th April, 1864), and until the end of the then next session of Parliament, and shall then expire, except as to any act done, or offence committed, or any penalty or forfeiture previously incurred.

* The penalty is £100, and in default of payment the party to be committed to hard labour for six months.

CHAPTER IX.

SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE REASONS OF THE PRINCIPAL EXCISE ENACTMENTS RELATING TO MALTSTERS AND DISTILLERS.

MALTSTERS.-The following account of the object of each of the more important restrictions at present imposed on maltsters working for general purposes, is taken in substance from a valuable letter furnished by the Board of Excise to the Commissioners of Excise Inquiry, in the year 1835. This paper is printed in the appendix to the 15th report of the committee of that period, and contains, besides the observations which will here be quoted, a useful abstract of the history of the malt laws, commenting on the various changes that were made from time to time in the original regulations for securing the duty, and pointing out the reasons which probably led to the amendment or repeal of some of the former provisions. It would be desirable, if space permitted, to insert the whole of the letter in question, but a selection of such portions of it as remain applicable to the existing state of the malt survey, is all that can be given consistently with the limits of this work. A few supplementary notes will be added in brackets, adverting to points left untouched by the Commissioners, and referring to the alterations that have taken place since the date of the report.

Entry-By the acts in force, every maltster is required to make entry with the Excise of his malthouse and stores, and different utensils. This regulation is obviously necessary in order that the officers appointed to survey and secure the duties may know the places where, and the utensils in which the manufacture is carried on, and be able, more effectually, to counteract any dishonest practices of the trader. No objection can, it is presumed, be urged to this regulation, as in any degree affecting the course of the manufacture.

Cistern and Couch-frame.-The regulations which relate to the form and construction of the cistern and couch-frame, as enacted in the 7 & 8 Geo. IV, c. 52, were much modified by the succeeding act of the 11 Geo. IV, c. 17, and the principal requirement now is, that those utensils should be so constructed and placed, that the officers may readily obtain gauges of the contents. The regulations of the first-mentioned act were suggested in consequence of attempts which were made to defeat the officers' survey by erecting the cistern in positions in which the contents could not be properly examined. As the amount of duty is to be ascertained by gauge, it is of course requisite that the vessels should be of regular figures, and easily accessible; and in this particular, indeed, the trader is himself interested, unless he could so construct his utensils as to ensure that every inaccuracy on the

part of the officer would be in his favour. [It hardly need be observed, that the limitation as to the depth of cisterns and the amount of inclination for the drip, is designed to guard against the difficulty and uncertainty that might be experienced in taking a proper account of the corn in steep, if maltsters were left unrestricted in these particulars.]

Kiln and Floors.-There is no restriction as to the dimensions, construction, or situation of the floor, nor is the extent or shape of the kiln defined, or at all interfered with, by the regulations of the Excise. These, together with stores for barley and malt, are all that are actually necessary in a malthouse, but the cistern and the couch-frame are the only parts, the form and construction of which are prescribed by the statute. [In the making of duty-free malt, the trader is, for obvious reasons, required to provide a kiln, with such fastenings and arrangements as will effectually prevent the abstraction of malt, but the size or form of the kiln is in no way limited.]

Notice to Wet.-The necessity for a previous notice of the day and hour at which the maltster intends to wet or steep grain is recited in the preambles to the two clauses in which the regulation was originally introduced. These clauses are as follow:

The 33 Geo. II, c. 7, s. 70, recites, that "in making of malt practised before granting the duties, the barley or other corn or grain during its steeping in the cistern, wetting-vat, or other vessel, did usually rise and swell so considerably that it was thought reasonable, upon granting the said duties, in all charges of duty to be made by the officers of Excise from the cistern or couch, to allow to the maltster four bushels in every twenty bushels, and so proportionably upon every greater or lesser quantity, in consideration of such rise or swelling of the corn, which allowances had been made accordingly; and whereas many maltsters do continue their barley or other corn or grain in the cistern, wetting-vat, or other vessel, but a very short time after the first wetting of the same, whereby the rise or swelling as aforesaid is much prevented, and beareth not a due proportion to the said allowance given on account of the rise and swelling thereof, by which means such maltsters not only obtain the allowance aforesaid in the cistern and couch, although the reasons for making the same is in a great measure taken away, but also reserve to themselves a further advantage by swelling the corn after it has been gauged and charged in the couch by means of watering it on the floor, when it has the allowance of ten bushels in twenty, which practice is greatly detrimental to the revenue and to the fair trader." It therefore enacts, "that if any maltster shall not wet or steep his barley or other grain intended to be made into malt in the cistern, wetting-vat, or other vessel, so as that the same shall be covered with water, and continue so covered in such cistern for the full space of forty hours from the time of its being first covered with water before he shall drain or take or draw the water from the same, he shall not be entitled to the allowance either in the cistern or couch."

The 3 Geo. III, c. 13, after reciting the above clause in the 33 Geo. II, c. 7, proceeds thus: "And whereas there is not any provision made by the said act for enabling the officers of Excise to ascertain when such corn or grain is first begun to be so wetted, or steeped, and, consequently, whether such maltster is entitled to such allowance as aforesaid; and as, by reason of such defect, the whole purpose of

the said clause has been entirely defeated; and whereas great frauds have been committed, by the mixing of corn or grain with corn or grain steeping in order to be made into malt, whereby the revenue and the fair trader have been greatly injured," it therefore enacts, « that every maltster shall, at least twenty-four hours, if in a market town, and forty-eight hours elsewhere, before he shall begin to wet any corn or grain to be made into malt, give to the officer of Excise a notice in writing of the particular hour or time of day when he intends to wet corn or grain; and in case the wetting shall not be begun at the time mentioned in the notice, or within three hours after, the notice is declared void, and a fresh one is to be given before wetting; and the maltster is prohibited from beginning to wet any malt but between four in the morning and nine in the evening." It then imposes a penalty of £100 on omitting to give the notice, or, having given it, and begun to wet any corn or grain, not proceeding to cover the whole with water, and to continue it covered for the full space of forty hours, or beginning to wet at any other time than between four in the morning and nine in the evening, or for adding fresh grain to the cistern after the officer has taken his account of it.

Limitation of Time for beginning to Steep, &c.—Of the regulation which limits the commencement of a steeping to the interval between eight in the morning and two in the afternoon, [now 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.,] it is necessary to state that it is entirely for the convenience of the revenue. It ensures to the officers fair opportunities of examining and gauging the grain during the day, soon after it has been wetted, a part of the operation which might, in the absence of the restriction, be resorted to at unseasonable hours for the purpose of fraud. Of the inconvenience of it to the trader no complaint has been made. These observations apply equally to the regulation that malt shall be emptied from the cistern only between the hours of seven in the morning and four in the afternoon.

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Duration of Steeping, &c.-The maltster is required to keep the grain covered with water at least forty hours, [or fifty hours, if he wishes to sprinkle the grain on the floor at the expiration of 96 hours from the time of emptying from the cistern,] but he may drain the cistern once during that time, specifying his intention to do so in the notice to wet; and he is prohibited from adding grain to the cistern after the officer has taken an account of it, and from abstracting grain from the couch. That there is any just ground of complaint in requiring the corn to remain forty hours in steep, can hardly, it is apprehended, be alleged, as a shorter period would not suffice for exciting a good and equal vegetation throughout the The frauds to which an unrestricted power, in this respect, would lead, are the withdrawing the grain before it had become saturated, by which the Revenue would lose the proper charge of duty (the number of bushels of malt and the allowances to the trader being calculated upon the maximum bulk of the corn in that stage of the operation), and making up the deficiency in the vegetation, by wetting on the floor at subsequent parts of the process. In that case, also, fresh grain might be added to supply the place of that which had been removed, and would thus escape the charge of duty. These several regulations which have been adopted from the former laws, appear to be generally and essentially necessary for preventing frauds, and bear upon other provisions, all directed to the same purpose, namely, to prevent the maltster from short-wetting his grain before it has arrived at its full swell; as it is obvious that no maltster for any purpose but that of