The Express.
London, England, 1847-01-23 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, JAN. 23.

The House of Lords sat but for a few minutes yes-
terday.
In the House of Commons the Corn Impor-
tation (Suspension of Duties) Bill, and tho
Navigatio.l Laws (temporary suspension) Bill went
through their remaining stages and were passed. An
amendment was moved in Committee on the latter
Bill to the effvet that vessels laden with corn should
come within the operation of the bill, provided it was
proved that they. sailed from the port whence their
cargoes wcre derived before the Ist of September, the
day on which the operation of the bill will cease.
Upon this question a division took place, when there
appeared a majority of 138 aaiust the proposition.
fheof Chancellor of the F,xellecper proposed resolu-
tions on which to found a ball, permitting the use of
sugar, but not molasses in breweries and distilleries;
and for a reduction of the duty on rum, which were
agreed to. On the motion of Lord John Russell, a
select committee was appointed to consider and report
on the law of settlement of last session.

THE Cu INCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER intimated •
last night that his Sugar and Rum Bill was intended
to be a permanent measure. The phrase must, of
course, be taken in the sense generally attached to it
when employed with reference to legislative mea-
sures. The arrangement contemplated by the bill
maybe a, permanent as the existing differential sugar
duties, or the existing system of excise surveillance,
though, perhaps, some may doubt whether it possesses
the elements even of so prolonged an existence.
Molasses are not to be allowed under this bill to
be used either in brewing or distillity, • some appre-
hension that their use ini,4ht lead to clandestine prac-
tices too subtle for the detecting faculties of excise otfi-
cers, has mot i veil this prohibition. The brewer, however,
is to be allowed to use duty-paid sugar in all his
processes, exactly as the private brewer has been al-
lowed to use it. The distiller is to take his sugar
from the bonded warehouse, pay the duty upon it,
and use it in distillation. When he comes to pay the
spirit duty, an allowance is to be made to him equi-
valent to the difference between the duty which he
paid on the 5u,,,,,,ar and the duty which ho would
have paid on the quantity of malt from which the
same quantity of spirits might have been extracted.
In other worms, both the brewer and distil:er are to
use duty-paid sugar: the brewer who has hitherto
paid all his duty on his raw material re-
ceives no deduction. The distiller who (in so
far as he employs malt) has paid partly on his
raw material, and partly on the produce of his manu-
facture. is allowed a drawback on his sprit duty when
he has distilled it from sugar, an article more highly
taxed than malt. AccorJing to calculations that
have been made, 11! gallons of spirits can be obtained
from a cwt. of sugar; and a drawback of 12s. 10d. on
the spirit duty will relieve the distiller from that por-
tion of the sugar duty which is in excess of the duty
he would have paid on the malt capable of yielding
the same quantity of spirits.
The effect of this arrangement, the CHINCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER expects, will be to enable the brewer
and distiller to use sugar or malt in their respective
processes, according as the natural price of these ar- •
tieles shall render the one or the other more eligible,
unaffected by any practically differential duty. In so
far as the bill is calculated to have this edict, it is an-
extension of free-trade policy: it is leaving trade to
follow its natural channels, unbiassed by fiscal con-
siderations.
The provisions of the bill relating to the duties on
rum have a similar tendency. In England the duty
on British spirits is at present is. 10d. per gallon,
and on colonial, 9s. 4d. In Scotland the duty on
British spirits is 3s. Bd. •, on colonial, 9s. 4d. In Ire-
land the duty on British spirits is 2s. Bd.; on colonial
9s. 4d. The duty on rum is to be reduced 6d. per
gallon in England ; in Scotland the duty on rum is to
be reduced to is. 2d. per gallon ; in Irefand to 3s. 2d.
We now come to consider in how far these ar-
rangements can be said to possess the element of
permanence: in other words, whether they are a
sati.factory settlement of the claims advanced by the
parties to whom the hill is to be considered as a con-
cession, and therefore likely to be. final.
The brewers want permission to use a cheap in-
gredient for the manufacture of good beer, with a
view to extend its consumption both at home and
abroad. About a week ago malting barley was sold
at 348. per quarter, and the last quotation of British
Muscovado is 335. per cwt. in bond. At these prices
it is indifferent to the brewer whether lie use malt or
sugar. Both are high prices, hut that of barley is
more above its average level than that of sugar. If
the brewer is only allowed to use sugar (not mo-
lasses) and is not to be allowed the difference between
the malt and sugar duties (like the distiller), he will
not be able so far to economise his expenditure as
materially to increase his home customers. And, u
sugar is permanently cheaper on the continent than
here, he will not be able to increase his exportations:
for the continental brewers with their cheap sugars
will be able to undersell him.

With respect to the distiller, the arrangement under
which he is first to pay the whole duty on the sugar.
and then receive an allowance when he comes to pay
his spirit duty, subjects him to a double disadvantage.
Hie original outlay is unnccesearily increased: he is
obliged to pay money now only to get it back here-
after. lie is a loser by the interest on his money in
the meantime. Again, this drawback system wi!l
render still more complicated our already too compli-
cated excise system.
With regard to the modification of the ram duties.
we cannot see the justice of making the distiller in
Scotland pay higher rates of duty than the distiller
in Ireland ; the distiller in England higher rates than
the distiller in Scotland ; and the distiller in the
colonies higher rates than the distiller in England.
These different rates of duty are unfair to those who
pay the higher ones, and so many temptations
to fraud. The annorance to which all who
import Scotch or Irish whisky into England
are exposed, would he removed—the Irish and Scotch
distillers would be allowed to compete on equal
terms with the English—if one uniform rate of duty
were substituted for the present varying rates: the
labours of the Excise would be diminished, and the
expense of its establishment also. And now that our
colonists are exposed to an increased foreign compe-
tition, they have a right to claim equality for their
produce w.th that of the mother country in her mar-
kets. Muth complication and unnecessary expense
would have been escaped by the simple process of
equalising the duties on British and colonial spirits.
As for the effect of this measure on the consumers
of grain in ordinary years, it will be entirely unfelt.
Taking the averago price of barley at 30e. per
quarter, the CHANCELLOR of the Exentivna esti-
mates that sugar must be as low as 18s. (in
bond we presume) to compete with it. Looking to
the average of British and continental prices of anger
since the commencement of tie present century, it
must be obvious to any one acquainted with the actual
condition of the countries whole* we must derive our
that a long time must elapse ere sugar is
likely on such terms to prove a substitute for malt,
either in brewing or distilling. As a measure of re-
lief at the present crisis the bill is entirely nugatory;
when barley had risen to 545. a quarter, it is admitted
to have been still a matter of indifference to dis-
tillers whether, ander its provisions, they used sugar
or melt.
In so far the measure is praiseworthy, that it is a