They are bracing themselves for that. The Department administers the Old Age Pensions Act. I might say that a very substantial amount of the Department's expenses in travelling—about £10,000—is due to the administration of the Old Age Pensions Act. The Department has the duty of restricting or preventing the importation of all sorts of things from obscene literature to the plumage of certain birds and shaving brushes manufactured in Japan, as well as all sorts of various undesirable articles. They also do the work of enforcing the Merchandise (Marks) Act. Where goods are marked, say, in the name of a firm in the Saorstát and are made outside, they have to bear definitely the announcement that they are made elsewhere. The quarantine and health regulations are enforced by the Revenue authorities, and certain duties in connection with alien immigration. They also have to hold inquiries and deal with wreckage, with the registration of ships and fishing boats and the engagement and discharge of seamen. They collect "light" dues, and, in certain cases, harbour dues. In the last few years a great increase of work was cast on the Revenue staff by various Customs duties as a result of tariffs which were imposed.
The Customs and Excise staff has had to be very substantially increased. We were handicapped to some extent in the discharge of Customs duties last year and the year before by the fact that the staff was barely sufficient or was insufficient in numbers, and was moreover a raw staff. There was practically no Customs service here before the setting up of the Saorstát, and the Customs staff which we got over was very small. The new men who were added naturally were not able to discharge the duties as fully or as efficiently as more experienced officers would be, and perhaps a certain number of the complaints we hear of were due to that lack of experience.
We made many investigations from time to time in regard to complaints, and I found on the whole the fact that the public and the importers had not accommodated themselves to the existence of the Customs barrier was more responsible for the delays and difficulties than any failing or rawness on the part of the Customs staff. We have had these new people working for a fair time, and I think there is very little cause of complaint at present. I certainly have had no complaint of any consequence, and no substantial number of complaints have reached me for a very long time. Even with the staff at the highest pitch of efficiency, occasionally there will be something to rouse somebody to utter a complaint.
The Income Tax staff also has been labouring under great difficulties. We had a tremendous mass of arrears of income tax, and a great amount of confusion arising from delay in collection, and from the destruction of documents in many cases. There was a very heavy task on the Revenue staff to collect these arrears. The main mass of the arrears has now been collected, and I think at the end of the present financial year a very small amount of the old arrears will be outstanding. The new arrangement in regard to double income tax will, in the first instance, occasion some increase in the work of the Revenue Department, and will occasion some delays. The mere change over will cause certain problems, and will create certain initial difficulties, but we are satisfied, as a result of the new arrangement, that in a year or so some substantial ease to the Revenue staff will be brought about.
We will then be in the position to set up the nucleus of a proper investigation staff. At present we have the bare minimum of tax inspectors necessary for the work. In fact, we have yet four tax inspectors on loan from the British service. We are in the position that but for those four inspectors there might have to be amalgamation of districts or something that would make the due collection of tax possible. We hope in another year to have a number of young men qualified for the position of inspector of taxes. With the decrease of work that will result when the new double income tax arrangement materialises we will be able to appoint a certain number of inspectors to the work of investigation. Perhaps I cannot indicate exactly the lines we will take, but they will at any rate deal with cases which at present have to be passed over without the sort of scrutiny we would like. Our belief is that if there were sufficient tax inspectors, and if there was anybody who could be put on the work of investigation, we would collect the sum of a quarter of a million or perhaps £35,000 more than we are collecting without any increase in rates.
