The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-04 00:00:00

THE WiNB LUTiRS ftEDUCTION:

A nurn,rous and influential deputation waitsll upon
Viscount Palrnerbton at his residence in Piccaditly,.yes-
terday, by appointment, on this subject. Amongst the
gentlemen present were—Mr. -Benjamin Oliveira, M.P.,
Mr. John Macgregor, M.P., Mr. A. J. Otway, M.P.,
Mr. William Scholefield, M.P., Mr. W. H. a Lani Ont

A deputation, consisting of IVlessre; Wm. White (pre-
sident), Heery Buxton, Charles Hackney, and Benjamin
Bamford (secretary), from the Anglo-French Fred Trade
Association of the Staffordshire Potteries, also attended.
Mr..oetvEntA, M.P., who introduced the deputation,
referred to the various steps that had been taken upon
the question within thdla,t few years.. In 1852 a com-
mitted of the House of Commons was \ appointed to in-
vestigate the:whole subject, as affecting revenue, moral
and social c msiderations, and international results.
That committee sat . for seven weeks, aid collected a
vast amount of valuable information, proving, first, that
the existing duty was far too high, and .probibited the in-
troduction to this country of many excellent wines; that
a lower duty would promote a vastly increased consumer
Von, and in a very short.time produce a mile* augmented
revenue. That the experiment of introducing the use of
wines amongst the ,humbler classes by retail was emi-
nently successful, and drunkenness from the excessive
use of spirits consequently diminished; that'a diming-
tion of the import duty upoa foreign wines would sti-
mulate the commercial relations between Great Britain
and the -wine-growing countries of Europe, and lead to
more intimate and extended transactions to the obvious
advantage of all parties concerned ; and that a reciprocal
loWerieg of the tariff in those:countries would, be the ulti-
mate; _ and not distant, result. Having formed. these
conclusions, he brought .the question under the conside•
ration of the
_House of
.Conamens early in 1853, wren Mr. Gladstone, while admitting many of his arguments,
still thought the time inopportune, its he was eftectiog
many reductions in other. and more pressing matters. '
The motion was then withdrawn, and again brought
forward early in the session of 1854, with a large amount
of fresh information, but the' Apprehensions then enter-
tained that war with Rummy was inevitable, induced Win
not to debate the question. During last session he placed
a notice on the jourrala of the house, immediately that
the meeting of the Conferences at Vienna gave some
hope of peace; and on visiting the present Chancellor of ,
the Exchequer, on the 20th March, be made use of the
follo,ii.g expressions :—‘• He (the Chancellor of the
Exchequer) hoped that Mr. Oliveira's anticipations of the
result of too Vienna Conferences would be realised, and
then the question of the reduction of the wine.duties
would be a .subject for discussion." Upon a suhse•
quent occasion, Mr. Glad-tone, speaking in the Heuse
of Commons, used the following words :--" tr,"
doubtedly there are some duties in our tariff
Which partake in a limited degree of the principle of
protection' _but the bun. gentleman gave my right hon•
friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer bad advice when,
instead of selecting the, articles best able to bear midi-
clonal duties he enCrely declined to discriminate, and
recommenced my right hon. friend ti take the wine duty,
which is already the scandal of our tariff, and probibito
nine tenths of" the wine of Europe." Towards the'end
-of last session he (Mr. Oliveira) had a conversation with
ilia lordship upon the subject of his motion, when his
lordship admitted that it was one ,quite worthy of die.
cussion. A treaty of 'peace having now been signed at
Paris, it appeared that the period was particularly favour"
able to its consideration. From the close alliance which
the war had brought isetween France and Great Britain,
and the advances which the French Emperor had already
made in the principles of free trade, there was no doubt
that in both countries the prosecotion of every measure
tending to strengthen that, alliance would meet 'with
oniversal approval. His 'convictions as to the polio/
and wisdom of an early settlement of the question were
'fortified and strengthened by the proofs he bad that
under the present duty there was no perceptible increase
of revenue, that the public was imposed upon by, the
substitution of adulterated wines at an extravas n!
charge, and an important commercial interest was OP
in a state of suepense. His object in placing these JAR°
before him-was, for the. purpose of ascertaining how isi
he, as the head of the Government, might think the sub'
ject worthy of his support, and whether there might eros
be interests of sufficient magnitude involve(' in the quer
don to render it desirable to deal with it as a peewee/
auxiliary to the Peace Conference in the extension dal.
commercial and international transactions of the. Euro-
peen Powers.
The objects of the deputation were also strongly urged
by Mr. Ashworth, of Manchester, Alderman Copeland,
the Mayors of Leeds and Bradford, Mr. Hadfield, and
several other gentlemen.
• .._ -

Lord PALMERSTOY, in reply, said that thee was no
reason to impress on him the general principles on which
they sought for, the reduction of the duties in question,
c >nvinced as he was of the advantages of the trade.
indeed, every man who had turned his attention to the
matter felt that duties ought only to be levied for O.
purposes of revenue; and not in any degree for the pro-
tection of particular branches of trade ; but, while theY,
levied duties for the purp9ses of revenue, they should
take care that they did nut do so in such a manner as t,tl
°
cripple the industry of the country. lie would add, too,
that most wen who reflected on thejsubject, know that
commercial, treaties, as far as they regulated national
tariffs, were freqw•ntly evaded. There had bees frit•
queutly an understanding between England and cond.,
'nental countries that where they thought that W°
charged too high a ddty on some use of their pr.:Wane',
rib undertook to lower it on n3ndition of their receiving
in return some of our prothicts at a lower duty doll
hitherto. Such arrangements had never woik.e4

well,' as there were al-ways local prejuiices to 04
terfere :with them. The question of. adulteration WO
not a neW one, for it had been notorious fora 104
time. , His own grandfather, the Earl
,of Pembroke,
used to tell. his own , guests that he could 001
give them the assurance of his wine merchant with re
spect to the purity of his champagne, claret, and other
wines, but that fur the port he could hinaself. answer,
he was the person who made it. lie (Lord Pallaristoio
had the receipt still in his poSses:,don, but ha bad to 331
that he should be , very reluctant to try. it. It was 4 *
well known fact that there %as never a gooirchampagP°
year iu France but there.ivas also'a: 'good apple haws"'
in Normal.dy. The
.question whether the duties were
too high, or wrongly put on, bad engaged the attentie3
Mr. Gladstone, and it was that 4entiiimaa'a epinl6l
that there were a great many difficulties-in the way .13'
their making an ad valorem, duty, while thatat preSeer
levied did not on an averag, amount to more than 2"
per cent., or abo.ut-ls.- per bottle ; and that could take
litle effect on tha consumer. It could scarcely inter:
fee with the Importation of the cheap wines, as it would
only raise the r price from is. 6d. to 2s. 63. a 1300'
Now, suppose they were to reduce it one half, 6i.' Wag
so small in proportmo to ss. or 6s. a bottle paid for the
wine., or to the 2s. 61. a bottle paid for the cheap ODA
that there would be a very small, increase in the'coO'
sumption while the revenue wonld- be '-tery much re'
duced:;' 'While as there was no such thing as a ',annual,
it was evident that eventliat,partial-inere,asein the Pciv
~samption of %sine. would. chepiacs.some.other heverai,
at present in use, and from whiclt.conbiderahle revenue
was derived:.:

The deputation having thanked, his lordship for the
attentioxi with-which he had listened to the expositioo
of their views, retired.

COWES, ISLE OF WIGIIT.-April 3.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)_

LAUNCH OF ANOTHER STEAM GUN-Bo.o2.—The A11);'
core, of 232 tons, was launched from Messrs. White's
shipyard this morning. They have,several others in 11
very forward state.
,Tfig ROYAL REviEw.—Sixteen ships of the line, fifty
gun-boats, and a number of other ships are already 0'
ambled inside the. Wight. The number is' daily W
creasing, and, in another ten day", one of the most
powerful fleet% ever seen will be assembled in these
waters.

NoRTRWOOD CEMETERY.--It having been found is"
possible to get the chapels erected by the Ist of
next, the day fixed kr closing the burial ground' at
West Cowes, application was made to the Privy Council
to extend the time to the Ist of September, which WO
been done. The ground has been drained to a depth of
eight feet • the roads and paths ea-a nearly complete, sot
a
is the boundary wall. The ground is tour-aud.a hall
acres in extent, the population abuut 6,000.

MON

CJi~'l~

The Livf
very steaail
American N
ties gel per
week. All
sales were
3,000 on sp
Maranham
6/d. ; 500
41(1. to 4,14
2s. per lb
active, am
slight declii
The Col(
have been
hag taken I
been a goo
Per cent. fi
in rather I

as OCCUITI
dealings,
Rum has 1
much atte:
ruled inaci
per lb. T
lraportancl

colliTztlisro.iracif,dea6ere2aactilc
brisk, witl
nivbich is d
1 a Americ
at 3 3fis. 5(
wet e sold
Taßioca wi
whil:e cinE
bro,glit 2f
tont% durit
3,393,829 f
605,894 f.
against 6,
Year.

The vie
bouraei op
this rnontl
of the Ti
On the fir
Pared wii
Austrian
Railway S
hew Hyp,
more abu
alone meta
1.5 now in.
18 110 anir
Funds are
%fits.

There h
ket for P
vanes of ai
82i to 931
have eine
8 pram.
Eaebeque
and the E

Foreigt
quotation
have rise!
are 102 tc
are flat at
Stock is
Nrian 4 p
100, and
Cents. ar
The fo'
Stocks :
can, 214
54 56 ; 1
6 per G
Spanish
5i ; ditti
Messr:
the west
been ilia

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