The Collectors: A History of Canadian Customs and Excise by Dave McIntosh (review)

REVIEWS 419 mobilegill nets,and morerecentlyto draggers,nearshore vessels generally between fiftyandsixty-five feetlong.Sinclairoffersaninvaluable description of the effects of this transition on the work lives and families of the men and womeninvolvedin the industry.The influences of the stateand the recent growth ofunions arealso discussed. Theconclusions areambiguous. Contrary tothedifferentiation hypothesis, thenumberof fishermen hasdoubled in the lasttwenty-five years; butcontrary totheintegrationist approach, thisincrease masks growingeconomic and social distinctions amongdraggerskippers, a localelite,andthe majorityof fishermen. Thesefindings arerelatedin parttoSinclair's manipulation ofdata.In the tables presented, thevalueofgearandthevalueoflandings from •956tothe present are not deflated,eventhoughsomeof thisperiodwitnessed rapid inflation.Oncecorrected, Sinclair's findingswouldappearmorepessimistic. Similarly,the author frequentlyrefers to a transitionto capital-intensive technologies, but thiscannotbe determinedfrom the datapresented. For example, Sinclair observes thatcodtrappingisrelatively morecapital intensive than someearlier formsof technology, but he notesthat it requireslarger amountsof labouraswell (4ø- •). Sinclairis also lesssuccessful in combininghistoryand a consistent theoretical framework.In theearlierperiod,fishermen aredescribed asrisk aversein their economicdecisions (48), but more recentlythey haveinvestmentsof over $4oo ooo in one boat (75). It is unclear from Sinclair's presentation if state interference, among otherfactors, hasalteredfishermen's behaviour, or whetherthestateneededtooffer fishermen generous financial conditions because they are risk averse.To giveanotherexample,Sinclair expends someenergyin describing pricingdecisions in the industry.His findingthatfishermen arepricetakers iscertainly notnovel,andmighthave beenmoreusefulasan assumption of histheory. In the end, Sinclair dismisses the two theories and others he hasexamined because theyaretoo'general.' Since inhisviewtheroleoftheoryistoexplain particular cases satisfactorily, it is not surprising that he findsall theories 'inadequate' (•8). It isplausible, however, thattheproblems Sinclair raises are notrelated totheapplication oftheoryitself,therawdatacollected, oreventhe theories he setsout to examine.The centralproblemisthe absence of any formulation toaccept or rejecthypotheses. MICHAEL Ht•BERMAN TrentUniversity TheCollectors: A Historyof CanadianCustoms and Excise. DAVEMCINTOSH. Toronto:NewCanadaPublications •984. Pp.4•4, illus. Customs andexcise taxesplayan importantpartin Canadian history.While Canada's nativepopulations taxedsome trade,wholesale collection ofcustoms dutiesbeganwith the Europeankings,who,recognizing a goodsource of 420 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW revenue,taxedcodfishlandedin Englandor Portugal.The Frenchkings extendedthepractice to the fur trade,asdid the Britishafter theConquest. Muchof thediscontent in BritishNorth Americaduringthemid-nineteenth centuryrevolvedaround the questionof the impositionof tariffs and the distribution of therevenues collected. Whenthecolonies finallywontheright of responsible government andgainedcontrolovertheirowncustoms duties, theybeganto debatethe concepts of free trade,customs union,reciprocity, andtariffprotection, anargumentwhichsustained ordefeated political parties untilthepresent day.An equallycontentious issue wasthestruggle whichthe provinces wagedto pry greatersubsidies out of the federalgovernmentas compensation for lostcustoms revenues. One of the few countriesto separatecollectors from imposers, Canada established a separate department,Customs and Excise, to enforceitstariff policy.In pre-Confederation days,customs collection wasa veryhaphazard, inefficient business, plaguedwithprimitiveadministrative procedures, sloppy bookkeeping, officerskeepingsecret records, andrampantsmuggling. Gradually ,however, the departmentbecamean efficientbureaucratic structure, gatheringthe tollsimposedby variousadministrations. Nevertheless, in the Northwest,the MountedPolicehad to handlecollections, prosecute, andjail smugglers. DaveMcintoshhaswrittenacomprehensive account of Canada's Customs and Excise.Much of his material is both entertaining and informative. Particularlystrongon the personalities workingon the frontier, he gives readers a goodsense of thehardships of customs collections in isolated areas. Byfar thebestpartof thebookisthegraphicaccount of theestablishment of Customs andExcise on theYukon frontier. Customs, according to Mcintosh, playeda crucialpartin Canada's claimon theChilkootPass. AlthoughMcintoshhad a closeconnection with the departmentwhile researching andwritingthiswork,hepullsnopunches anddetails itsfailures andscandals. The authorlaudably sets hischronicle withinabroadhistorical setting, butthenloses thesense of chronology bydividingthebookintofour notalways distinct subject areas. Thisdevice leads tomuchrepetition. In fact, theauthoroftendigresses intoirrelevantmaterial.A ruthless editorcouldhave turned The Collectorsinto an excellent work. ^.^.D•.• o,c•rwI• Memorial University PoliticalThought in Canada.Edited by sTwvvxw• BROOX•S. Toronto: Irwin Publishing 1984.Pp.vi,227.$14.95 This valuablecollectionof original essays reflectsand contributesto the growing interest in Canadian political thought.Asnineof theelevenauthors arepoliticalscientists, it alsoreveals a strengthening of thehistorical orientationinpolitical science which was interruptedinthegreatuniversity expansion ...