ed
and transferred to the Navy amounted to L20. And here let it be added
that the persons liable to arrest in regard to smuggling were: (1)
Those found on smuggling vessels; (2) Those found unloading or
assisting to unload such craft; (3) Those found to be carrying away
the landed goods or concerned in hiding the same. But before
conviction it was essential to prove that the seized spirits were
foreign; that the vessel had come from foreign parts; that the party
who detained the smugglers was a Customs Officer; and that the
offenders were taken before a proper magistrate.

We now come to the year 1821, when the Commissioners of Inquiry made
an important report touching the Revenue service. They suggested that
the Riding Officers were not valuable in proportion to their cost, and
so it came about that the Inspectors and superior officers, as well as
a large number of the inferior classes, were dispensed with, but a
small percentage of the lowest class was retained as a Preventive
Mounted Guard, the annual cost of this being only the modest sum of
L5000. This Preventive Guard was to be employed in watching for any
gatherings of smugglers, and whenever any goods might be landed and
carried up into the country, they were to be followed up by the
members of this guard. They were also to maintain a communication
between the different stations.

Up to the year 1821, from those early days of the seventeenth century
and earlier, the Revenue cruisers were the most important of all the
means employed for suppressing smuggling. But the same inquiry which
had made its recommendations regarding the Riding Officers also
reported that the efficacy of the vessels employed in protecting the
Revenue was not proportionate to the expense incurred in their
maintenance. They advised, therefore, that their numbers should be
reduced, and that whereas they had in 1816 come under the care of the
Admiralty, they should now be restored to the control of the Customs.
But the officers and crews of these cruisers were still to be selected
by the Admiralty. And thus in the year 1822 these recommendations were
carried into effect, and a new order inaugurated.

It was by a Treasury Minute of February 15, 1822, that it was directed
that the whole of the force employed for the prevention of smuggling
"on the coast of this kingdom," was to be consolidated and
transferred, and placed under the direction of the Customs Board. This
force was to consist of