Downing Street,
8th August, 1850.

Sir,

1. I herewith transmit for your information and guidance, the Copy of a Minute of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, relative to the Customs Establishment in the Colony under your Government. From that Minute you will perceive that the Customs Establishments in ( ) and in the other Colonies therein mentioned, are with the exception of such Officers as may be specially retained for Imperial objects, to be considered henceforth as Colonial Establishments, and consequently, that as vacancies may occur, the appointments will be liable to reduction or modification as may be found expedient with reference to the requirements of the Local Trade and Revenue; in recommending any such changes you will, however, take special care to avoid arrangements that would place Officers prematurely on the retired List.

2. It is necessary that I should explain to you the considerations which have led to the adoption of this arrangement.

3. Previously to the repeal by authority of the Act of 9 and 10 Vic., Cap. 94, of the Duties which had been levied in the Colonies under the Act of 8 and 9 Vic., Cap. 93, for regulating the Trade of British Possessions abroad, Establishments were maintained in almost all the Colonies, under the directions of the Board of Customs in this Country, and holding appointments as Officers under that Board. These Establishments were also in most cases employed for the collection of Colonial Duties, under Colonial Laws: the expense of them was in general defrayed partly from the Colonial Revenue, partly from that of this Country, and the retirement or superannuation of the Officers was provided entirely from the latter.

4. The repeal before adverted to, of the Possessions Act Duties, has been followed in the North American and West Indian Colonies by the removal of those Home Customs Establishments, and the substitution for them, of one or two Officers only, with appointments from the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury to attend to the observance of the Navigation Laws and other Imperial objects, and of Establishments appointed by the Colonial Governments for the collection of Colonial Duties and the regulation of Trade under local Laws. In Jamaica and Canada the Imperial Officers have as yet been retained for these purposes by, and at the charge of, the Colonial Governments.

5. But these proceedings did not at first affect the Australian Settlements, or other Colonies to which the Possessions Trade Act of 9 and 10 Vic. did not specifically apply, and where trade was carried on and Duties were levied under either

Special Legislative Enactments, as in

New South Wales,
Van Diemen’s Land,
South Australia,
Western Australia,
New Zealand,
Ceylon,
Mauritius,
Malta,

or Orders of the Queen in Council, as in the Colonies of the

Cape of Good Hope,
St. Helena,
Sierra Leone,
Gambia,
Gibraltar.

6. In all these Colonies, except Malta, Gibraltar and Western Australia, there are Customs Establishments appointed by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, on recommendations of the Board of Customs and in communication with and receiving direct Instructions from that Board on subjects which would more properly be left to the Colonial Governments, more especially now that the levy of differential duties, as well as other restrictions on Colonial Trade, have been, generally speaking, relinquished.

7. As regards the Australian Colonies and New Zealand, an alteration in this state of things would, doubtless, soon naturally result from the constitutional changes now under the consideration of Parliament; but in the mean time, as propositions have already been brought before the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, by the Customs Department, relating to the Establishments in South Australia and New Zealand, it has been considered, on the whole, advisable that measures should at once be taken for putting the Customs Establishments and arrangements throughout the Colonies, on the footing of those in the West Indies and North America; and relinquishing further interference on the part of the Treasury or of the Board of Customs, in the nomination of Officers, or in any other details relating to the administration of the local Customs Laws and Regulations.

8. These are the considerations which have led to the adoption of the arrangement in question, and it is one which has appeared to Her Majesty’s Government both desirable in itself, and calculated to be acceptable to the Colonies affected by it.

9. The effect will be, to place the future appointment of Officers to the Customs Department precisely on the same footing as that of all other Officers of the Colonial Establishment, under the Rules on that sub-