The Sun.
London, England, 1836-10-27 00:00:00

THE WINE TRADE.

The total importation of all wines into the United King-
dom for the year 1835, amounts to 9,039,551 gallons, being
a decrease, as compared with the importations of the pre-
ceding year, of 726,565 gallons ; this is immense. The
total deliveries from bond, for home consumption and ex-
portation, for 1835, are 8,293,930 gallons, being an in-
crease over 1834 of 174,258 gallons. The total stock of
wines in the United Kingdom of all sorts, on the sth of
January last, amounted to 9,776,140 gallons, which shows
an increase upon the previous year's stock of 690,598
gallons.
PORTS.—The importation of Portugal wines, during
1835, amounted to 4,269,890 gallons, or upwards of 37,000
pipes. The deliveries for home consumption, 2,780,02
gallons, being a trifling decrease as compared with 1834.
The export deliveries of Ports were 475,084 gallons, show-
ilyg an increase upon 1834 of 178,546 gallons. The stock
of Ports in bond, on the sth January last, was 4,218,264
gallons, or nearly 37,000 pipes, the London stock alone, in
August last, being 24,100 pipes, showing an increase, as
compared with the same stock upon the sth January last,
of 3,250 pipes, so that if the out-ports have increased in the
same proportion, the market must remain heavy.
THE VINTAGE.--No material difference, of opinion, it
is thought, can exist as regards the Port vintage of 1835.
The rain commenced on the 19th September of that year,
and continued until the 12th October, during nearly the
whole of the gathering, which destroyed all previous hopes
of a favourable vintage. Almost all the grapes were ga-
thered in rain ; and the vintage, therefore, as regards qua-
lity, must be held as a failure, although as to quantity it
was an average crop. The Port Wine trade is now under
a new system, which has not yet had time to develop it,-
self ; the future value of Ports, therefore, cannot be stated,
although it must not be forgot that the trade in Portugal is
unrestricted, and that increased facilities are thereby af-
forded to the merchant and grower.
SHERRIES.—The total importation of Sherries last year
amounted to 2,732,028 gallons, or 23,756 pipes, being a de-
crease upon the previous year of 714,535 gallons, or 6,213
pipes. The total deliveries of Spanish wines for home con-
sumption last year are 2,230,187 gallons, being a decrease
upon the former year of 49,666 gallons. The deliveries of
the present year will tend to decide whether this article has
arrived at its maximum demand for home use. The total
stock of Spanish wines on sth January last was 3,699,239
gallons, a decrease upon the previous year of 241,282 gal-
lons. This evidently arises from a diminished supply, and
is calculated to relieve, in some degree, the great pressure
on the market, and thereby facilitate sales. The stock, how..
ever, is too heavy, and the holders too pressing, to afford a
prospect of any improvement in prices. The London
stock alone, on the 31st August last, was 21,716 butts.
The vintage of 1835, both as to quality and quantity, is
held to be a full average.
MADEIRA.—The importation of this wine, which of
late years has been languishing in the British market,
amounted to 204,825 gallons only, being a decrease of
167,873 gallons upon the previous year. The vintage of
1833 is represented as being deficient both as to quality
and quantity.
FRENCH WINES.—The total importation of these wines
last year was 370,446 gallons, being 7,070 gallons more
than the imports of 1834. The total home consumption
deliveries of 1835, were 271,661, being an increase over
those of 1834 of 11,031 gallons. The stock of French
wines on the sth of January was 349,350 gallons, showing
a decrease, as compared with that of January 1835, of
38,786 gallons. The Claret vintage of last year is consi-
dered a failure as to quality ; it is deficient in body and
colour, and vapid in flavour. The Clarets of 1834, con-
cerninc, which so much difference of opinion existed, ap-
peared to have materially improved, and have been sought
after as the only available wines to succeed the vintage of
1831.

A good Claret vintage is much wanted, and the present
year promises this, unless spoiled by the weather before it
can be realised. Although the home demand for French
wines in 1835 appears to have slightly increased, this im-
provement is not applicable to Claret. Champagne has
materially increased in consumption, and the French Ports
have also swelled the home deliveries. The remarks relat-
ing to Cape and other cheap wines, now almost abandoned
by the respectable portion of the trade, are of too little in-
terest to be extracted. Port, Sherry, and Claret, seem
the staple articles of British use.

SUGAR DUTIES AND DRAWBACKS.

It is surprising that the people of this country have so
long submitted to the high price of sugar, without raising
their voices against it. It is pretended, and was probably
intended originally, that the drawback of duty on refined
sugar, when exported, should be equivalcat only to the duty
actually paid upon it on importation in its raw state. The
calculation of the relative proportions of sugar and treacle
runs thus :

Duty on 1121 b. of British Muscovado Sugar is ....E1 4 0

Which, on being refined, is considered to produce
611 b. Refined Sugar, drawback on export 1 0 0.
181 b. Bastard Sugar, ditto

1 3 10-41

281 b. Treacle, which escapes free of duty into
home consumption • 0 2 3
51b. Waste.

1 6 141
0 2

Bounty

When the above calcula-tion was adopted, it was probably
not far from correct ; but it is well known that the art of
sugar-refining was not then so well understood at the pre-
sent day. At that period there was neither boiling in vacuum
pans, nor clarifying by means of charcoal filters. These re-
cent improvements enable the skilful refiner to produce more
refined sugars, and consequently far less bastard and treacle.
Some of them boast of being able to produce 89 to 901135.
of refined, of a quality to pass the Custom-house standard,
and obtain the higher bounty of 43s;per cwt. In this way
a large bounty is obtained, and the revenue in a manner de-
frauded. Thus the stock of raw sugar is reduced, and its
price increased upon the consumers of this country by

premium paid by themselves.
But without prying into the secrets of the refiners for in-
formation to make out our case, very conclusive evidence
may be gathered from the prices current of the day, that
there is something radically wronc, in the practice. By
these publications we are informed that the average price
of raw sugar, exclusive of Customs' duty, is 2/. 55., and that
the price of double refined loaf sugar for exportation is
2/. 4s. 6d. Thus refined sugar is sold by the refiner cheaper
than the raw sugar from which it is produced.
It is therefore high time that some change should take
place, for the sake of the revenue, and to save the people of
this country from paying more for their sugar than the con-
sumers of any other country in Europe or America. Long
ago it was suggested that the refining business should be
carried on in bond, under the King's locks ; and it is said
that Mr. Pitt, immediately before his death, had resolved
on having this practice carried into effect. There is posi-
tively no other safe method for all parties of refining
sugars for exportation ; and in this way the refiner for fo-
' reign markets could work both foreign and. British sugars,
or either of them as he might think fit, and the Excise
officers would take care that none of the goods produced
should escape, into the home market. And the refiner
would have perfect liberty to apply all his chemical sci-
ence to produce all he possibly could from the raw mate-
rial ; and if, as some assert, he can change the character of
treacle, and turn it into chrystals, the revenue could not
suffer from the metamorphosis.—Evening Paper.

Yesterday afternoon, about four o'clock, a poor
woman named Taylor, residing at No. 13, Plumtree-court,
Shoe-lane, Holborn, whilst attending to some domestic bu-
siness, left her child, about two years of age, in the care of
her daughter, a girl about nine years old, who left it on a
table near the first-floor window. The unfortunate child
made a spring, and was precipitated head foremost into the
street. The screams of the mother alarmed the neighbours,
who all thought the child was killed. Its head, however,
fell upon a heap of mud in the kennel, and a medical gen-
tleman, who was immediately called, ascertained that the
child was not in the least injured, with the exception of a
slight graze on the elbow.
THE RED ROVER STEAMER.—Yesterday after-
noon the Red Rover steam packet, which was sunk on
Monday in the last week, by the collision with the Magnet,
a Margate steamer, near the Nore Lights, was towed, up
the River by the Waterloo, a small steam lug, and hauled
into Fletcher and Fearnall's dock, at Limehouse. A great con-
course of persons was assembled to witness the arrival of the
ill-fated vessel, the appearance of which excited great curio-
sity. She appears to have met with most extensive damage,
and was brought up from Long Reach, near Northfieet,
where she had been lying for the last two days, after she
had been sufficiently patched over at Sheerness to send her
afloat. The Magnet, which was only slightly damaged,
' must have struck the Red Rover with great force a little
before the bits on the starboard side, cutting her down
within four streaks of the keel. All the deck was cut away
to the other side, and the funnel was broken. Indeed the
vessel was a complete wreck. The steward, who was oh
board yesterday collecting the remains of his property, is a
very great loser by the loss and breakage of cabin and other
stores. The machinery and engines of the Red Rover are
rusted and covered with mud and sand. The water was
above five fathoms and a half above her decks when she
sunk, and the interior was filled with mud and sand. The
vessel will undergo a thorough repair in Fletcher and Fear-
nail's dock, where she was built ; her cabins and bows will
be rebuilt, and she will be ready for excursions before the
commencement of the next summer season. The Red
Rover was eleven minutes sinking after she was struck by
the Magnet, and it was seven minutes after the collision
when the last passenger left her.