The gross amount of Duties received from Shipping in the year to 31st December 1846, as per detailed State appended hereto (No. I., p. 429), is £46,001 : 11 : 2⁶⁄₈.

The Commission paid to Collectors in the same period is £2401 : 7 : 3⁴⁄₈, and Repayments of Duties erroneously charged, &c., £218 : 16 : 10²⁄₈, making the nett amount of Duties for the year £43,381 : 7 : 1, as also appears from State, No. I., p. 429.

It is to be observed, however, that during the currency of this year, two reductions in the amount of Light-duties, resolved upon by the Board, have come into operation.

1. The first of these reductions was one halfpenny per ton (or one-half of the amount leviable by Statute) for the Bell Rock Light; one farthing per ton (or one-half of the amount leviable) for each of the Lights of Corsewell and Mull of Galloway; and one-eighth of a penny per ton (or one-fourth of the amount leviable) for Pladda Light. These reductions were in operation during the first half of the year 1846. They were estimated to produce a deficiency in the annual Revenue of £5160, which, for the half-year, gives £2580. The actual deficiency in the amount levied for the first half of 1846, over that levied in the corresponding period of the preceding year, was £2350 : 9 : 1, being still £230 under the estimated amount.

2. The Board came to the resolution of making such a further reduction as should, including the previous one, give an aggregate abatement to the Coasting Trade, for each of the Lighthouses, of 50 per cent., that is, the amount leviable for each of the Lights being, previous to the first reduction, one halfpenny per ton, was reduced for the Coasting Trade to one farthing per ton; the amount for the Bell Rock and Skerryvore Lights, being one penny, was reduced to one halfpenny per ton. This reduction commenced on the 1st day of July 1846, and has consequently been in operation during the last half of that year. It was estimated to produce a deficiency in the annual revenue of the Board of £14,394 : 14 : 5, which, for the half-year, gives £7197 : 9 : 2. The actual deficiency in the amount levied for the last half of 1846, over that levied in the corresponding period of the preceding year, was £6659 : 12 : 2, being £540 under the estimated amount.

On the other hand, the greater reduction having been in operation only during half the year, a greater deficiency in the Revenue must be looked for in future years.

The Light-Duties in 1845 were contributed by 163,174 vessels in the Coasting Trade, giving an aggregate tonnage of 15,566,461, and by 45,612 vessels in Oversea Trade, giving an aggregate tonnage of 9,300,983.

The Light-Duties in 1846 have been contributed by 163,166 vessels in the Coasting Trade, giving an aggregate tonnage of 15,926,634, and by 50,324 vessels in the Oversea Trade, giving an aggregate tonnage of 9,577,478.

A contrast of these statements shews an increase in the Coasting Trade of 1846 in tonnage of 360,173, with eight fewer vessels; and in the Oversea Trade an increase of 4712 vessels, with a tonnage of 276,495.

These results (somewhat singular in their relative amounts) establish the important fact, that, though there is a deficiency in the revenue of the Board, it truly arises from the reductions in the Duties, and not from any reduction in the Shipping.

For the information of the Board, there will be found appended (p. 433) a statement shewing the progressive increase of tonnage during the last four years.

There has been expended on the various Works in progress, prior to the year 1846 and in that year, as follows:—

There has been expended on the new Steamer “Pharos,” £18,977 : 6 : 7.

The Commissioners have purchased a House at Crail for £105 : 19 : 4 for the use of the Boatmen attending at the Isle of May.

The attention of the Commissioners is called to the circumstance that a complete change has been made this year in the mode of stating the Accounts. The Accounts are now, for the first time, concentrated in the Secretary’s department, and for every item entered in the subjoined abstract, reference is now, and will hereafter, be made to a page of the Ledger containing a detailed account vouching the charge. Following out this arrangement, the account has been branched into three heads or divisions. The first head comprises the ordinary expenses of the Lighthouses. In this branch it has been thought right to state separately, under the head of the Isle of May, the interest on the debt to Government, being the balance of the price of the Island. The second head comprises the ordinary expenses of the Board, not in the first instance chargeable against any particular Lighthouse, but falling to be afterwards allocated in the final view of the Receipt and Expenditure of each Lighthouse. This branch is again subdivided so as to shew—

The last division of the abstract comprises what is termed the extraordinary expenditure, that is, the expense of New Works and others not falling to be allocated upon the Lighthouses.

In effecting this change, various payments which appeared in the former abstracts will not now be found in the present, such as Rents and Feu-duties, which are now charged to the respective Lighthouses for which they are paid; the Storekeeper’s Salary, which is stated in the Storehouse Account; the Office-Keeper’s, in the Office Account, &c., and the Salaries of the Officers of the Board will be found under the head of Edinburgh Establishment.

ABSTRACT of the Receipts and Payments on Account of the Duties levied for the Northern Lighthouses for the year 1846.