[ Board of the Inland Revenue, Excise Department, London.] Late-Victorian Manuscript Notebook, compiled by several parties, with sections of questions and definitions, and others treating allowances, 'Liverpool Allowances' and 'Quarantine Practice'.

169pp., 12mo. Covering the whole of a ruled notebook in black waxed cloth binding. In fair condition, aged and worn, in like binding with some damage to spine. Ownership signature of 'A. C. Collyer' on front free endpaper, with the word 'Notes' written under it, and beneath that a seal (hand holding a sword) in red wax. The notebook has been compiled by at least three different parties (with a couple of notes in shorthand), and is certainly the work of instructors rather than students, possibly Scottish. (Text in one hand carries a pencil note in another: 'The allowances from 27 to 31 page are @ McLean's Gauging and are of little practical value'.) The latest references in the volume are to 'the Merchandise Marks Act' (1887) 'the Revenue Act of 1889', 'the Goschen minute on the Out-door Dept.' (1891), and other references suggest that it was commenced some years before. Descriptions, calculations and instructions, mainly relating to alcohol and tobacco, but also to topics as diverse as fishing vessels and explosives. The notebook broadly divides into five sections, beginning with definitions (such as 'The Head Rod', 'Face', 'Bung Rod', 'Long Callipers', 'Cross Callipers', 'Drawbacks', 'Allowances', 'Gauging'), and then a section of 'Allowances', then nearly fifty pages of numbered questions (presumably intended for examination papers), then 'Liverpool Allowances Modern', and lastly a section relating to 'Quarantine Practice'. There are 56pp. (35-90), all in the same hand, devoted to calculations of 'Allowances on the different kind of Casks Butts or Pipes', and including sections on 'Port Quarters', 'Sherry Butts', 'Lisbon Qrs', 'Marsala Pipes', followed by another six pages (91-96) of 'Allowances', in another hand, including 'Rum @ Demerara', 'Rum @ Havana', 'Brandy @ Charente', 'Sherry @ Cadiz', 'Oporto Pipes' and 'Tarragona'. The 'Allowances' section is followed by 47pp. (97-143) of questions, in three incomplete numbered sequences, of which the following is a good example: '30 How would you treat packages supposed to contain Explosives and how would you deal with a passenger suspected of having smuggled goods on his or her person' and 'By the "Goschen" minute Surveyors are eligible for Collectorships. To what extent will this change benefit the Service. Firstly as to the Out Door Dept. Secondly [as to the] In Door [Dept.] State how you acquired your information on the matter and what Practical experience have you had in the Clerical Dept. to enable you to draw your conclusions'. One question, '23 How should an Officer act (a) when a chargeable loss is found in a package of wet goods in w[are]h[ou]se and (b) when any deficiency found in a cask of wine or spirits is suspected to have been caused by fraudulent abstraction.', is followed by the note: 'See Red Book @ N 1 to 62'. Next come 15pp. of 'Liverpool Allowances | Modern', and finally 9pp. headed 'Mem[orandum]. of Quar[antine] Practice issued 2/1/88 [i.e. 2 January 1888], with sections on 'Vessels @ Mediterranean. with Foul Bills', 'The Preliminary Questions', 'Cholera Questions' and 'Bills of health'. The following two short examples are representative of the section of definitions: 'Cross Callipers | have two limbs sliding within each other and are used for finding the horizontal long dia[meter]. of casks. Each limb is 30.6 inches long amd jas two perpendicular arms 19 inches long projecting from each limb. | Store Bond is a document thhe conditions of which are that the Stores shall be enumerated on the Victualling Bill and be used on the ship specified or accounted for to the satisfaction of the Commrs. of Cus. Penalty of Bond = Double the rate of Duty.'