A letter from Arthur Onslow, Customs officer at Liverpool, responding to directions regarding the smuggling trade and import duties on the Isle of Man. Onslow provides an account of foreign goods imported to the island, duty rates payable to the Proprietor (Duke of Atholl), and observations on the decline of island trade and the role of the East India Company and African merchants. The letter discusses tea as a new staple commodity and suggests measures to discourage smuggling.