The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-01-24 00:00:00

THE WINES OF FRANCS AND THEIR
PROBABLE CONSUMPTION IN

ENGLAND.

A blue-book at 200 pages, on Thuroday_issued front
the presa, contains a series of reports from Rim Majesty's
Secretaries of Embassy and Legation on the effect of the
vine disease on the commerce of the various countries
wherein they reside. Theee reports include Francs.
Spain, the United States, Austria, Tuscany, and Sardi-
nia. France is far more fully re Tied on than the rest,
and as at present the snuiinsacial policy of that eountry
has received a new imputes and direction from tbs Isls
Imperial edict, it may be well to refer to what is said
with respect to French wines. Tbe moieties& of the vita
question, "whither, in the event of a reduction of the
duty, Frame would be always ir. • oondltionito meal 11117
demand (for her wines', that might arias from England;
futnis the principal subject of investigation in the lengthy
and elaborate report of Viscount Chelsea on the past
history and present state of the wine trade in France.
The narrative of Sir E. Tennent, drawn up for the Board
of Trade some years ago, is recited and discussed, and
many of its arguments are controverted in detail. The
result of Lord Chelsea's inquiry would seem to be in
every respect favourable to ea etioouramanient of the im-
portation into England of French wines in lame quanti-
ties and strongly affirmative of the vinous ferthity et her
soil, as sufficient to supply the increased demand that
way arise. It is shown that prior to 1849, leaving fined
growths (which are confined to small districts) out of ac-
count, the quality, as respects the wine, had degenerated
in France; that it had lost in flavour what it had
gained in fecundity, and that the adoption of the new
methods of cultivation, the introduction of the common
sorts of grape, and the abuse of manure, had caused the
vine to lose its primitive superiority arid distinctive qua-
lities. Hence a diminution of price. Ilut this dinnnus
tion of price being counterbalanced by the sale of much
larger quantities the wine-grower has beuelited by the
change, and the total value of vine property in France,
nistead of declining, has increased in a larger ratio than
that of other descriptions of agricultural produce. Wine
property, in a word, tar front being neglected, ia eagerly
sought after. A Ministerial moot from M. Is Chabrol,
dated March 15, 18:8), and another, communicated to the
Co laden of the lludget, November 29, 1849, both
establish that, since 1788 the cultivation of the vine has
been constantly on the increase in France. In 1830 there
was Al. increase of 438,0u0 bectar.; it WAS upwards of
300,000, or 10,000 per annum nearly, from that period
to 1819; in 1851 the total area of land under vine cul-
ture amounted to about 2,000,000 hectares. The present
report goes on to establish-1. That the increase above-
mentioned is • constant and universal fact, manifesting
itself throughout the whole extent of the country, but
chiefly in thou districts where the cultivation of the
vine issued profitable. 2. That the increase of produc-
tion is greater still, and, in proportion, more general
than the increase of land cultivated. 3. That where
there has been a diminution in the price of wine, it was
owing to adulteration. 4. That the value of wine pro-
perty has increased far beyond the proportion of the de-
velopment of the iaqiulatiut.
A long report on the working of the wine-tax, from
the same French source, follows. Lord Chelsea baying
quoted these date, carries down the narratives to the
end of 1858, and concurrently tests the accuracy of Sir
E. Tennent's estimate of the productive powers of France
as embodied in his work on " Wine, its Uses and Taxa-
tion." First, is wine a luxury or a necessary of life?
Lord Chelsea cannot deny that established facts would
go to prove the fornier proposition, quad England; but
• abstract justice of the system which onerously taxes
the juice intended to gladden the heart of man he takes
leave to dispute, and states, moreover, that there is
every a priori reason for chusing wine as a necessary of
life. Agaia, it is contended that aggravations and
retuissions of taxation produce a remarkable effect on
the consumption of nines, it being demonstrable that
reduction of duty has always promoted consumption,
and that since the equalisation of the wine duties by the
English Government in 1840, there has been a steady
increase. The declining taste for wine in Eamland, one
of Sir E. Tennent's puritious, is satisfactorily disproved
by statistic.; for there is every reason to believe that
if the English artisan could procure wine at a moderate
rate, he would soon hid adieu to gin, whisky, and
other injurious liquors, as was the cue in the 17th cen-
tury. when the wines of France entered for one-third
into the total umsumption of the people of England.
But, to insure this cunsumption now, the wine met-
chute, it is hinted, must change their habit of extort-
ing large profile on the sae of retail quantities.
" Whether it is poi:ibis by a lower duty on wine to in.
crease consumption so as to sustain the revenue" is ano-
ther question, discussed and resolved by Lord Chelsea
in the affirmative. It is also believed that, were the
duty reduced to Is. per gallon, French wines,
notwitheanJing the alleged preference of the
Eug'isli for strong brandied beverages, would
eventually euntenti with their rivals on equal
terms, or altogether beat them out of the
market, as they did port wine before the Methuen
treaty. Au appeal to official documents to ascertain
what lathe relative proportionate amount of wines of all
countries cousumed in Engiand will show that, as re-
gards French sines, this proportion, which for • period
of 16 years, from 1815 to 1830, only amounted to 4•42
per cent., rose during the 16 years comprised between
1837 and 1814 to 633, equivalent to an increase of 50
per cent.; and what is still more remarkable, this pro-
portion attained, in spite of the vine disease, during the
tour years 1851-51, to 712, 750, 779, and B'l2 per
cent of the total cubsuuiption, or au increase of 100 per
cent, relatively to the period 181540. It could not,
however, be fairly expected that the equalization of
duties on all idliera would operate to the same degree as
an actual reduction on French wines. Whether the
upper classes would consume a larger quantity of the
finest vintages after a reduction of duty is immaterial to
the point at isms ; the great question is, whether • new
body of courunoni, among the middle and labouring
classes, may be created for the inferior growths. On the
question of consumption in England, Lord Chelsea re-
affirms still ISOM lwaitively that, if the English artisan
could procure at a cheap rate, a wholesome, palateable,
and moderately-invigorating beverage, lie would not re-
sort to the use of poisonous and maddening liquor:4."
Morever, the vile •nd sickening compounds of sugar,
water, 'spirit, and colouring matter, known as "home-
made wines," would cease to destroy the digestive
organs, and to poison the juices of the poorer class of the
community, who would at once substitute the use of the
genuine article from abroad. It is further contended
that France Can supply an increased demand for her
wines in England, both as regards quality and quantity,
and that &nue Sir E. Tennent wrote, • great change for
the better has taken place in the wine trade of France.