The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-17 00:00:00

has been made upon China, which ought to result in a fur-
ther payment from her resources and in aid of ours. (A

. .
laugh.) lam not surprised that that statement should be

received by the committee in a manner to show that they
are not sang-uine:as to the general principle ; and I confess
that if they were any great middleman who would under-
take to deal with us upon those terms—that we •should
make over to him entirely and bodily the whole of the com-

pensation that we expected, both retrospective and prosper
tive, from China, and that he, on his part, in consideration
of that, should undertake whatever future charge may arise
on account of the war, over and above what has been stated
to the house and is known to the Government--I think that
financially we might perhaps do very well to close with
such an offer. But, at any rate, a portion of the sums are
actually due by the treaty of Tien-tsin, and they constitute
an element in the case that ought not to be put out of view.
The sum which we propose to raise by taxes, out of the
£2,336,000 that is required, will amount to about one mil-
lion of money ; and the mode in which we propose to raise
it is, by an immediate addition to the duty upon ardent
spirits. (Hear, hear.) I will not enter fully into all the con-
siderations applicable to that duty, but I will state at once
that the amount of addition we contemplate is an addition
of ls. 11d. per gallon on the various descriptions of ardent
spirits which are chargeable either under excise or under
customs ; and that the effect of the measure will be to leave
British spirits liable to a duty of 10s. a gallon, colonial
spirits to a duty of 10s. 2d., and foreign spirits, generally
speaking, to a duty of 10s. sd. per gallon. Those duties
will be particularly enumerated in the resolutions which it
will be my business to place in the hands of the chairman.
In proposing to the committee this augmentation of the
duty upon spirits, her Majesty's Government set out from
what they conceive to le the recognised and established, as
well as the sound and healthy principle of taxation in regard
to that particular commodity. That principle they conceive
and understand to be this, that it is a commodity out of the
consumption of which you ought to levy the maximum of ob-
tainable revenue. (Hear, hear.) It differs from other com-
modities in this : when you deal, for example, with the arti-
cle of tea or sugar, your object is to promote the consump-
tion as much as possible consistently with obtaining the re-
venue you want—(hear, hear)—but when you approach the
article of spirits, that rule is precisely inverted, and your
object rather is to limit the consumption of the article as
far as possible, out always Sul:OtO, to the rfivroo condition.,
which I will by-and-bye consider—namely. consistently
with obtaining the money you want. For it is a mistake
to suppose that by the mere increase of duty you can con-
tinue ad libitum to increase the proceeds. The question is
—how much can you get, what duty will the article bear
without diminishing the proceeds of the duty either by
adulteration or illicit distillation. That is a question neces-
sarily and under all the circumstances one of doubt, and
more or less of difficulty; yet, still it is one that does not
altogether deny the calculations of the prudent and experi-
enced persons who have charge of these great branches of
the public revenue. The real question is, then, can we get
the money? Upon that subject, it would be unfair, con-
sidering the difficulty of the case, to say that even the most
experienced or the most able public officers can give an
opinion upon which any absolute reliance can be placed.
But taking a calm and impartial view of the present state
of the trades connected with the production and sale of
spirits, and endeavouring to draw a fair inference from the
important experience of the last seven years, the conclusion
at which the Government arrived, borne out and sustained
in that conclusion by the assistance of their proper advisers,
is that there is no reason why the committee should not
now proceed to that which has long been looked upon as the
natural term and close of our legislation in regard to the duty
upon spirits, and at once tax it at the rate of 108. a gallon.
That is not the highest duty that has been at any time im-
posed. So late as 1823 a duty of between lls. and 12s. was
charged upon spirits in England. That duty was too high,
and smuggling was increased. It was then reduced to 7s.
It was then increased to Bs., and at that duty it has stood
for 40 years. Public opinion has become more adverse to
illicit distillation; since that the efficiency of the revenue
department is greater than it then was. What has taken
place in Ireland is full of instruction on this point, even
more so than what took place in Scotland. In 1842 an ad-
dition of only ls. per gallon was made on Irish spirits;
but that addition was found to stimulate smug-•
gling to such an extent that it was found necessary to re-
peal the act in 1843. But when a similar experiment was
repeated in 1853 not only was it not attended by a similar
failure, but it was followed by a further increase in 1854,
and a further one in 1855. Subsequent augmentations took
place, till at last the duty was equalised with that of Great
Britain. Thus in the short space of five years, between
1853 and 1858, the duty was carried from 2s. Bd. per gallon
to Bs. per gallon without giving any stimulus to illicit dis-
tillation. When we speak on this subject, Ireland is
naturally looked upon as the peccant part of the empire,
and attention is directed to that quarter. The case of Ire-
land with regard to illicit distillation is this :—The system
of distillation has improved ; more capital, more skill, and
snore machinery have been applied to it. The views of
those who produce spirits are much raore directed to extend
the trade in spirits as a great article of merchandise than
to local and partial supply. mut-above an, tuts important
point is to be taken into consideration, in addition to the
great change which has taken place in the social condition
of Ireland, and the general demand for labour—that the
duty of securing collection of the revenue has been trans-
ferred for the last five 01 six years to that most efficient
body, the Irish constabulary, who, with the greatest intel
ligence, the greatest fidelity, and a strength tenfold that
of the revenue police, have conducted this important
business in the most satisfactory and effective man-
ner. (Hear, hear.) These are the considerations which have
induced the Government to believe that there is nothing
as respects illicit distillation in any one of the three coun-
tries which should prevent them from carrying the duty to
the point I have named. But loss may arise from adulte-
ration or dilution. Dilution is, I believe, normal in the
spirit trade. (Laughter.) In ordinary public-houses and
spirit shops it is not, I believe, too much to say that there
is hardly such a thing as the sale of spirit perfectly puce as
they get it from the distillery. (" Hear, hear," and laugh-
ter.) Even if that were an exaggerated statement, which
any gentleman may feel himself bound on the part of any
ono of his constituents to resent—(laughter)—there is not
the slightest question that dilution has a tendency to in-
crease as the duty is increased—(hear)—and for that I have
made a just and fair deduction. But the clearest argument
which I can use to show that what we propose is practi-
cable, and will produce the result anticipated, is by show-
ing that for the last three years, that is, both before the
equalisation of the Irish duty and ever since, the further
increase of duty has been confidently anticipated by the
trade. The mode of showing this is by the increase in the
deliveries that has preceded in those years the financial
statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the day.
We have had considerable deliveries of tea and sugar, when
these duties were increased, and we find that a simitar re-
sult has taken place with regard to spirits. In 1858 the
right hon. gentleman opposite (Mr. Disraeli) made his fin-
ancial statement on the 10th of April, and between the fat
and 19th of April there was an increased delivery of spirits
from bond, which yielded, as compared with the correspond-
ing period of the former year—an excess of duty of no less
than £250,000. The spirit duty is so high that this excess of
delivery itself constituted a consider able charge, and there-
fore it was not a measure to which the persons engaged in the
business would resort unless there was a serious probability
that the Government and Parliament would put on a higher
duty. The case of 1858 was an Irish case. But in 1859
there was no such element. The duties in the ;three coun-
tries were equal, and it was confidently believed by those
who were interested that when equalization had been
established increased duty would necessarily be the next step.
The financial statement was made on the 18th of July, and
between the Ist and the 16th there was an excess of delivery
of spirits from bond, as compared with the corresponding
period of the previous year, which yielded an augmentation
of revenue to an extent of not less than £287,000. But the
financial experience of the present year furnishes a still more
pregnant illustration. The financial statement of 1860 was
made on the 10th of February, and during the three weeks
ending the 10th of February there was an augmentation of
delivery of spirits from bond, which yielded an increase of
revenue as compared with the corresponding period of the
former year, to the extent of £551,000. This constitutes the
solid foundation of the measure which we propose. At the
_ same time when we have estimated that the measure will
yield an increase of £1,000,000 in the year, I must remind
the committee that there are some special causes of uncer-
tainty—special to the article, and not connected with the
general topics to which I have just referred—by which it is
affected. First of all, it is only in the present y ear that fo-
reign spirits have been admitted into real competition with
spirits of British origin, and at so early a date after the
change we cannot yet say that they have found their equili-
brium in the market. Again, there is the competition with
wine. No doubt that will stand upon a different footing
hereafter from any upon which it has stood in former years,
and, lastly, there is the competition of that article, in which '
so many gentlemen, especially on the opposite slue of the
house, take so lively and tender an interest—malt liquor.
'Whenever an increased duty has been placed upon spirits,
it has been found to stimulate the proceeds of the malt
duty In Scotland, and more particularly in Ireland,
there has bfeen a considerable augmentation in the con.
than lee greater beer, which is traceable to no other cause
of
re__
.erieatier cheapness than spirits in consequence
on the
i,aaceation. Those, however, are rather uncertain-
tiesyou get on on, f the case than in the substance, because
other. If the sidecom of the account what you lose on the
vernment it will be committee adopt the proposition of the Go-
tion of the Wino -i-,llcel'arY to introduce a small modifica-
tion
introduction of
Act,uty
so as to guard against the frau-
wtshin the shape of wine. I will
now state to the comtaisZio:
ltd'
we estimate this duty will
product- The increase ee
a zhich we propose on EH -
fish spirits may be ta:et ea, at fair and moderate estimate,
if we made no allowance for dim
consumption, at
and colonial
the amount
4250,000. That, is ithout takin:Loof
ccooltonial spirits.
derivable from the inert e tse on foreign en
percent,
theo
But we must allow for : male diminution of
consequence of the inc raase of duty,liwkheie2ho willa haveticin in
effect of adding penis L's something
r
nearly so to the price. Instead, therefore, of assuming an
augmentation of .£2,2( :0,000, I shall only assume an aug_
rn entation of £1,000,0 xio
from the increase of the excuse
duty on British spirit, which is making an allowance of 10
or 11 per cent. for di winished consumption. £1,000,000