Section 16. (1) The Collector, or any officer duly appointed by the Local Government in that behalf, shall have

16. (1) The Collector, or any officer duly appointed by the Local Government in that behalf, shall have free access at all reasonable times during working hours to any mill and, subject to any order of the Local Government in this behalf, to any part of any mill. Power to Collector to inspect mills and take copies of records and accounts. (2) Any such officer may at any time, with or without notice to the owner, examine the working records, sale records, and accounts of any mill, and take copies of, or extracts from, all or any of the said records or accounts, for the purpose of testing the accuracy of any return, or of informing himself as to any particulars regarding which information is required for the purposes of this Act or any rules thereunder. (3) Any mill-owner may object to submitting to any officer under the rank of a Collector any record or account containing the description or formulae of any trade process: but, 12 Cotton Duties. [ACT II (Part I.—Excise.—Sections 17-19.) but, if he objects to the inspection of any record or account by such an officer on the ground of its containing such description or formulæ, he must submit his objection in writing to the officer for transmission to the Collector, and the officer may then and there seal up the record or account pending the orders of the Collector. Information acquired to be deemed official secrets within meaning of Act XV, 1889. 16. The offences described in the Principal Act, section 167, Schedule Nos. 41-53, both inclusive, in reference to warehousing of dutiable goods. Mach Collector or officer shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred rupees. The penalties prescribed in the same Schedule in respect of such offences respectively. 16. Power to Collector to inspect mills and take copies of records and accounts.