To all who know anything of the merchants of London, the following list of the Directors of the Company will afford a sufficient assurance that at the head of its affairs, it can boast the guidance of the most extensive and eminent mercantile body perhaps in the world. ST. KATHARINE DOCK COMPANY. ... ..... George P. Barclay, Esq... Manuel Perez, Esq. William Pye, Esq. ... ... Barclay & Co. Cater, Collett, & Co. N. M. Rothschild & Sons. .. Glyn, Halifax, Mills, & Co. .... P. Grenfell & Sons. John Hubbard & Co. Palmer, McKillop, Dent, & Co. Pinto, Perez, & Co. Pye, Field, & Tanqueray, Thomas Tooke, Esq. W. Thompson, Esq., Ald., M.P... Thompson & Forman. CHAPTER VIII. CHRONICLES OF THE MISUNDERSTANDING WITH THE BOARD OF CUSTOMS. Mr. Tooke and Sir John Hall, who were examined jointly, explained in the following detail, the subject of this Chapter. (3681) It has been stated to the Committee that the Customs were compelled to take proceedings against the Dock Companies in consequence of finding the Dock authorities unwilling to conform to the regulations which the Customs deemed necessary for the protection of the revenue; are you aware of any such regulations having been proposed by the Customs ?--I am not aware of any. (3682) Is it the fact, as stated, that in the year 1848 representations were made by the Customs to the St. Katharine Dock Company of misconduct on the part of the Company's officers?—If there had been any such representations made I must have known of them, and I would say that it is out of the question that any such representations could have been made. (3683) If not then made, when were they made?-The first communication which the St. Katharine Dock Company received from the Commissioners of Customs conveying charges of misconduct on the part of the Company's officers, was in a letter received from them, dated the 12th of December, 1849; that letter was in answer to one of the day before from the Directors of the St. Katharine Dock Company. With your permission I will read the letter of the Company, dated the 11th, and the answer of the following day by the Board; these letters will explain the nature and the commencement of the controversy between the Customs and the St. Katharine Docks. This is the letter of the 11th December, addressed to the Secretary of the Board of Customs. "Sir, I am instructed by the Court of Directors of the St. Katharine Dock Company, to represent to the Honourable the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Customs that on Tuesday last, in the midst of public business in their Docks and warehouses, a numerous body of Customs officers entered these Docks, and also the premises of the Company in Cutler-street, and in separate divisions proceeded simultaneously to Chronicles of the Misunderstanding, &c. 605 search and rummage the floors of the several warehouses, every possible facility and aid having been immediately afforded them by the officers and servants of this Company for that purpose. No intimation, confidential or otherwise, was given to the Directors or the officers of the Company of an intention to adopt so extraordinary a proceeding, nor was any communication received of the circumstances which had called for the same. The only information obtained by this Company was after the search had commenced (and in answer to an inquiry on the same day), 'that the Dock Company would hear from the Board of Customs upon the subject.' A week having now elapsed without their having received from the Honourable the Board of Customs the communication which they were to expect, the Directors can no longer refrain from expressing their strong feelings of surprise and indignation at the extraordinary proceeding to which their establishment has been thus subjected, a proceeding which, accompanied as it has been with uncalled for publicity, is, they have reason to believe, without example as regards any other public Dock Company in the Port of London, and which nothing short of a well-grounded charge of systematic frauds upon the revenue, implicating the officers and servants of the establishment, can justify. I am therefore desired by the Court of Directors to state to the Honourable the Board of Customs the extreme importance which they attach to their being with the least possible further delay furnished with the particulars of the allegations, and with the nature of the evidence by which a most insidious and mischievous attempt has been made to bring into discredit, in the eyes of the public, an establishment to whose custody millions, in value, of property are entrusted, and through whose instrumentality the interests of commerce have been promoted and the revenue protected during the last twenty-one years. I remain, sir, your obedient servant, (signed) J. Hall, secretary." (3684) With reference to that letter, was that and almost every other letter that has been sent to the Board of Customs written under your dictation, and with your full knowledge and concurrence ?—All that part which was not merely formal; that part which related to the expression of the sentiments of myself and the other Directors was written by me, and I can speak to the feeling of the Board with reference to that letter of the 11th of December, when the draft of it was submitted to the Court for its approval. The words that I had originally used were "the expression of surprise and concern," and it was moved at the Board, and carried unanimously, that the word "indignation" should be substituted for the word "concern," for nothing could exceed the feeling of indignation which the Directors entertained. (3685. Mr. Alderman Thompson.) All the letters which have been written to the Board of Customs in the name of the St. Katharine Dock Company have had the full sanction of the Board at their meetings? Yes, their unanimous sanction. With reference to this letter I should mention that the 4th of December was the Tuesday previous; it is material to bear in mind that date. This is the answer of the Board of Customs of the 12th of December; it is addressed by Mr Scovell, the secretary of the Board, to Sir John Hall:- : "Sir,-Having laid before the Commissioners of Customs your letter of the 11th instant, stating that you were instructed by the Directors of the St. Katharine Dock Company to represent to them that on Tuesday last, in the midst of public business at the Docks and warehouses, a numerous body of Customs officers entered the Docks, and also the premises of the Company in Catler-street, and proceded to search and rummage the floors of the several warehouses, of which proceedings the Directors complain, more particularly as they took place without any previous intimation, either confidential or otherwise, having been given to the Company of an intention to adopt such a course; I am directed to acquaint you, for the information of the Directors, that information having been received by the officers of this department that irregularities were practised in the St. Katharine Docks, it became necessary to resort to a close inquiry, and that before any formal steps could be taken in the matter, circumstances arose which precipitated that inquiry, and that, therefore, however desirous the Board might have been of giving, in courtesy to the Company, some previous intimation, confidential or otherwise, there was no opportunity for pursuing such a course prior to the visit of the officers, who immediately mentioned the object of their visit to the principal officers of the Dock Company, who, it is admitted in your representation, accompanied the Customs officers in the search which ensued. I am to add that it will be the desire of the Board to take the earliest opportunity of communicating with the Directors of the St. Katharine Dock Company as soon as the case has been laid before them, with the reports of their officers thereon. I am, &c. (signed) C. Scovell.” Thus a week elapsed after a most violent and unparalleled act of aggression against the Docks by a large body of Custom-house officers, without any communication from the Board of its having issued orders for such a proceeding, or of the grounds for such orders, and it was only in consequence of the remonstrance of the Directors contained in their letter of the 11th December, 1849, that this tardy communication was made by the Commissioners. (3686. Chairman.) In point of fact you had received no notice what ever from the Customs of this invasion of the docks by this army of Custom-house officers ?-None whatever; we should not have been more surprised by an earthquake than we were by this invasion. (3687. Mr. Alderman Thompson.) The Cutler-street warehouses, mentioned in that letter, do not form part of the establishment of the St. Katharine Docks, they are a separate building?-They are a separate building, but part of the same establishment belonging to the same company. (3688) But they are at a considerable distance from the docks ?— Yes, at some distance. (3689) A quarter of amile ?-Barely a quarter of a mile. (3690) But the Cutler-street warehouses are not within the dock walls?—No, they are not. (3691. Chairman.) In the petition of the St. Katharine Dock Company the proceedings on the part of the Customs, on the 4th of December, 1849, are described as having been conducted in a most offensive manner, being more like a search by police-officers for stolen goods, than a visit for examination by officers of Customs; on what authority is that description given ?-The description is given in the reports of our principal officers; and as two of those reports, written on the immediate occasion, fully bear out the statement in the petition, and are not of such length as to occupy unduly the time of the Committee, I will, with your permission, read them. This is from Mr. Hunt, the superintendent of the Cutler-street warehouses, dated "Cutlerstreet Warehouses, 6th December, 1849;" it is addressed to the secretary: for "Sir,-I beg to report that at about 12 o'clock on Tuesday, 4th inst., Mr. Blackstone, landing surveyor, attended by a landing-waiter and Customs weigher, came to these warehouses, and, without inquiring any of the company's officers, proceeded to one of the rooms in which coffee is deposited, when he was met by Superintending-Foreman Wells, to whom he only observed that he came to look round. From that room, and unattended except by his party, he went into the clock-room, in which tea is deposited, when he sent for the tea warehouse-keeper, and demanded the key in order to examine what the clock-case contained! From this room, attended by the tea warehousekeeper, he and his party went into the store-room, and opened all the presses in which the different stores! (hessen, papers, &c.) are deposited. He then asked the warehouse-keeper where he kept his 'surplus tea,' to which the warehouse-keeper replied that he did not know what he meant by surplus tea;' that he had no such thing as surplus tea. He then went into another tea room, and seemed very |