COMPENSATION LEVY (England and Wales).

The Licensing Act, 1904 (repealed by and re-enacted in the Licensing (Consolidation) Act, 1910), established a fund for each County and County Borough in England and Wales, known as the Compensation Fund, to be administered by the Compensation Authority (in a County the Court of Quarter Sessions, in a County Borough the whole body of Borough Justices), and to be applied to the extinction of old on-licences (i.e., on-licences for spirits, beer or cider which were in existence on 15th August, 1904, when the Act of 1904 was passed) which the Licensing Justices and the Compensation Authority determine to be surplus to the requirements of the locality.

The Compensation Fund for each area is provided and maintained by means of an annual levy upon the holders of those old on-licences which are renewed. There is a scale of maximum charges varying from £1 to £100, graduated according to the annual value of the respective premises, and in each year the Compensation Authority, unless they certify that a levy is unnecessary, impose a levy at rates not exceeding, and bearing a common ratio to, the maximum rates in the scale. Provision is also made for reduction of the rate of charge in the cases of bona fide hotels, restaurants and other premises used for purposes to which the holding of a licence is merely auxiliary. Deductions from rent may be made by a tenant in respect of compensation levy paid by him, at rates varying, according to the unexpired term of his tenancy, from the whole amount of the levy in the case of an annual tenancy to 1 per cent. of the levy where the unexpired term does not exceed 60 years, subject to the proviso that the deduction shall in no case exceed half the rent.

The duty of collecting the levy is laid upon the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, the charges being levied and paid together with and as part of the duties on the corresponding Excise licence; but a separate account of the amount produced by the levy in each Compensation Area is kept by the Commissioners, and that amount is paid over to the Compensation Authority in accordance with rules made by the Treasury for the purpose. Statistics for five years are shown in the following table.

TABLE 122.-Compensation Levy.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACTS.

During the year ended 31st December, 1926, the following transactions under the Merchant Shipping Acts were carried through.

Registry of Shipping.-There were 17,125 registry transactions under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, Part Ï; and 1,702 Certified Transcripts were issued.

Sea Fisheries and Fishing Boats' Acts.-There were 3,596 transactions recorded in the Sea Fishing Boats registers, and 78 transactions under the Sea Fishing Boats (Scotland) Act, 1886.

Mercantile Marine.-The crews of 1,595 ships (21,116 men) were shipped, and the crews of 1,522 ships (20,291 men) discharged; 241 orders were issued for payment of wages and effects; 3,929 money orders were issued and 16,253 paid; 158 receipts were issued and 156 payments made in connection with seamen's savings banks; 55 receipts were issued and 1,583 payments made in connection with the transmission of seamen's wages.

Wreck.-3,473 reports of wrecked property were made, and the receipts on account of wreck sold amounted to £4,335.

Light Dues.-45,429 Light Bills were issued and £777,558 received as light dues.

SALE OF FOOD AND DRUGS AND PUBLIC HEALTH ACTS. The numbers of samples of imported goods taken by Officers of the Department during 1926-27 and submitted for analysis

MERCHANDISE MARKS ACTS.

Under the Merchandise Marks Act, 1887, Section 16, and the Merchandise Marks Act, 1891, Section 1, powers are conferred on this Department to detain :

(a) Any imported goods to which are applied marks or descriptions that are misleading as to the character, composition, or origin of the goods;

(b) Any imported goods of foreign manufacture bearing a name or trade mark which is, or purports to be, the name or trade mark of any manufacturer or dealer in the United Kingdom, and is not accompanied by a definite indication of the country of origin of the goods.

Imported goods bearing no marks, or marks which do not fall within the foregoing categories, were not required to bear an indication of the country in which they were produced or manufactured.

The number of detentions, and the manner in which they were dealt with, are shown in the following Table. The 1,352 cases during 1926-27 in which goods detained were eventually delivered as imported include cases in which the importers were able to show that the marks were not misleading as regards the country of origin, and cases in which it was impossible to qualify or remove the marks without seriously damaging the goods, but delivery was allowed on payment of a fine or under other restrictive conditions.

Of the 39 consignments seized, 32 consisted of goods bearing infringements of British trade marks which had been registered with this Department, and the remainder of goods bearing marks which were held to have been applied with fraudulent intent.

TABLE 123.-Merchandise Marks Acts: Detentions.

The non-Revenue preventive work performed by the Department included

(1) The prevention of the importation of :—

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(a) Obscene literature, pictures, etc.

(b) Advertisements of lotteries.

(c) Foreign coins, other than gold or silver, and imitation coins.

(d) Foreign gold and silver plate (including watches and watch cases) without assay.

(e) Fictitious stamps and dies or instruments for making such stamps.

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() Foreign reprints of copyright works which the owner of the copyright has requested, under the Copyright Act, 1911, shall not be imported.*

(g) The plumage of birds, with certain exceptions (on behalf of the Board of Trade).

(h) Shaving brushes manufactured in or exported from Japan (on behalf of the Ministry of Health).

(i) Prepared opium (on behalf of the Home Office). (2) The prevention of the irregular importation of :(a) Explosives (on behalf of the Home Office).

(b) Synthetic organic dyestuffs (on behalf of the Board of Trade).

(c) Arms and ammunition (on behalf of the Home Office and Board of Trade).

(d) Dangerous Drugs (on behalf of the Home Office). (e) Goods coming within the Order in Council of the 9th March, 1921, made under the Anthrax Preven tion Act, 1919 (on behalf of the Home Office). (3) The prevention of the irregular exportation of :(a) Arms and ammunition (on behalf of the Board of Trade).

(b) Dangerous Drugs (on behalf of the Home Office).

(4) The prevention of the despatch of vessels or munitions of war to belligerents (on behalf of the Foreign Office).

* Subject to the consent of the owner of the copyright, confiscated reprints are presented to the Corporation of Trinity House, for use on the Lightships and in Lighthouses, instead of being destroyed.

The following proprietors of copyright have given the necessary consent:Messrs. G. Allen & Company, Limited, Mr. Arnold Bennett, Mr. E. F. Benson, Messrs. Wm. Blackwood & Sons, Messrs. Burns & Oates, Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, Messrs. Cassell & Company, Limited, Mrs. Egerton Castle, Messrs. W. & R. Chambers, Limited, Messrs. Chapman & Hall, Limited, Messrs. Chatto & Windus, Miss Marie Corelli, Sir Hall Caine, K.B.E., Mr. S. R. Crockett, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mrs. Maud Diver, Mrs. A. M. Dudeney, Mr. R. Harding Davis, Executors of Chas. Darwin, Executors of G. du Maurier, Executors of J. A. Froude, Mr. J. Galsworthy, Mr. Anstey Guthrie, Sir A. Hope Hawkins, Mr. William Heinemann, Mr. M. Hewlett, Mr. Robert Hichens, Mr. E. W. Hornung, Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton, Baroness von Hutten, Messrs. Jarrold & Sons, Mr. Rudyard Kipling, Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Company, Mrs. Lee-Hamilton, Messrs. Longmans, Green & Company, Limited, Messrs. Macmillan & Company, Limited, Mr. A. E. W. Mason, Mr. Maarten Maartens, Messrs. Methuen and Company, Limited, Mr. H. S. Milford (Oxford University Press), Mr. F. Frankfort Moore, Mr. Geo. Moore, Mr. W. de Morgan, Mr. J. Murray, Mr. Okakuro-Kakuso, Mr. Lloyd Osbourne, Sir Gilbert Parker, Bart., Mr. Thos. N. Page, Miss Frances M. Peard, Mrs. H. de la Pasteur, Mr. F. C. Philips, Sir A. T. Quiller Couch, Miss Eliz. Robins, Messrs. G. Routledge and Sons, Limited, Countess Russell, Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Limited, Messrs. Smith, Elder & Company, Executors of H. S. Scott, Mrs. F. A. Steel, Lord Tennyson, Sir G. O. Trevelyan, Bart., Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, Mr. H. A. Vachell, Mrs. E. L. Voynich, Messrs. Ward, Lock & Company, Limited, Messrs. F. Warne & Company, Mr. H. G. Wells, Mr. Stanley J. Weyman, Mr. Charles W. Wood, Mrs. Mary Woods, Mr. Israel Zangwill Mr. Louis Zangwill.

MISCELLANEOUS DUTIES FOR OTHER DEPARTMENTS AND SERVICES.

These included:

(1) The collection of corn returns, and work in connection with the laws restricting the importation of cattle, horses, asses, mules and dogs, carcases, and hay and straw, and articles falling within the scope of the Destructive Insects and Pests Acts, 1877 and 1907; and the exportation of salmon and trout (on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries), and the collection of agricultural statistics in Scotland (on behalf of the Board of Agriculture, Scotland).

(2) The enforcement of health regulations, and work in connection with the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875, and Public Health (Preservatives in Food) Regulations 1925 (on behalf of the Ministry of Health).

(3) The detention of vessels and cargoes by order of the Admiralty Division of the High Court or other proper authority.

(4) Enrolment and payment of men for the Royal Naval Reserve (on behalf of the Admiralty).

(5) The collection of Pilotage dues for Trinity House. (6) The investigation of claims to exemption from National Health Insurance, and of questions in regard to the liability to National Health Insurance under the National Health Acts, 1911 and 1913 (in certain districts in Scotland).

(7) The collection of Passenger returns and certain other work under the Aliens Acts (on behalf of the Home. Office) and the collection of Passenger Returns under the Merchant Shipping Acts (on behalf of the Board of Trade).

(8) The acting, where necessary, as intermediary in obtaining (a) grants of Probate or Letters of Administration in England and Wales or in Northern Ireland, and (b) Confirmation in Scotland, where the gross value of the property in respect of which Estate duty is payable does not exceed £500.

(9) In Northern Ireland the collection of the transferred taxes, the administration of the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1924, assistance in the administration of the Widows' Orphans', and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 1925, and certain other nonrevenue services on behalf of the Government of Northern Ireland, under Section 63 of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920.

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