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family, utterly unprovided for. The act for ſuppreſſing this claſs of offices did not however paſs till 1798[1] on account of regulations in contemplation for improving the management of the revenue of Cuſtoms at which time there had fallen in 50, of the annual value of 13,320l.[2] That management in truth derived great advantage from the ſuppreſſion of the deſcription of offices here noticed, as the poſſeſſors of them, holding by patents, conceived themſelves amenable only to the Treaſury or the King, and ſometimes formally diſclaimed any reſponſibility to the Commiſſioners of the Cuſtoms, to the manifeſt inconvenience, if not to the loſs, of the revenue.
In 1789 upon a ſtrong repreſentation from the Commiſſioners of Exciſe of the utter inadequacy of the ſalaries of the officers in their department to their very moderate maintenance, eſpecially having in view the great truſt unavoidably repoſed
- ↑ 38 Geo. III. c. 86.
- ↑ Theſe ſinecure offices at all the out-ports are to be found in the Court Calendar of 1751, p. 102. They were at that early time deſcribed as worth 2, 3, 4, and 500l. a-year, with the appointment of valuable deputyſhips of great profit. They have been ſince omitted for obvious reaſons.
