The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-28 00:00:00

sorts of wines, at a ratenotexceeding Is. per gallon. Though
that appeared a very low rate, it was not, as regarded those
wines, a low rate at all. But what the Government thought
was this, that it was the highest rate of duty they cord fix
compatible with an extensive entry of those wines into the
ports of this country. (Hear, hear.) Then he came to the
question, could we afford a uniform rate of ls. a gallon ?
He believed that would entail a fiscal sacrifice considerably

greater than that he had prepared to make. But that was
not the question. Were the sacz:fice ccrsiderably more
he was of opinion it would be wise to face any disadvantage
so that they should g:ve a full and fair support to this
measure. They proposed that wine which approached
to the strength of 40 per cent. of proof spirit should be
liable to a duty of 2s. per gallon. The effect of that would

be that while he proposed to tax British spirits at some-
thing over Bs. per gallon, proof spirit in wine would
be oily taxed at the rate of 55., although the proof
spirit contained in wine was An important element in the
composition of wine, yet it was only an element. There
was a very considerable spirit in beer. If you ta!: i a gallon
of beer, and look at the r-nount of malt duty upon every
gallon, they would find that the alcohol contained in the
beer was much more lightly taxed then that in spirits pro-
perly so called. The reason they could do that was because
the competitionin spirits was en ieulirect competition. The
large amount of betwee 1 £11,000,0” and £12,000,000 was
now levied on the r .iele of Bli.,:sh and foreign Bpi :ts ;
'and, in fact, they had riaced the 2s. duty as low as they
dared. 'With that duty at 2s. they had no fear of illicit
distillation. The committee would see, therefore, that if
they were to have a plan to meet the great exigencies of the
case, it would be necessary unfortunately to adopt a varying
scale of duties. If it were possible to apply the principle of
an ad valorem scale it would bet he best of all, but the simple
answer to that was that he did not think any minister of
finance or the head of any revenue department could take
the responsibility to administer under such a principle. If
they had a yes y_low.ra",e then the temptation afforded to
defraud would oe so great that the law would become im-
practicable. Then the scale which he proposed had some
degree of reference to va'ue. 'Under it the higher priced
wines would pay higher duties, and the lower priced wines
would nay a lower duty. There were some wines of a very
weak alcoholic character, and some which from their high
flavour were of very considerable value. Putting this out
of the question, the alcoholic test would vary a good deal
in accordance with the value of the wine. As regarded the
test itself, all these tests were oven to a certain amount of
objection, and Parliament had sound it necessary to adopt
a system of classification. So as regarded sugar, it was
divided into three or four different classes, and as the hy-
drometer told the strength of the wine, ho apprehended
there would not be any danirer of fraud or inconvenience
except such as might be reaaily faced. Another important
point was the drawback upon wines. He was of
opinion, and he hoped the house would be of opinion,
that as a general principle nothing could be worse
than to allow a drawback upon articles subject to customs
duties, though, of course, there might be exceptions. He
would ask the house to remember what had been the course
of recent legislation. It had been a mitig..tion or a removal
of duties in every case where it could he attempted on a
scale calculated to produce legitimate effects, and the result
had invariably been ab. tefitto the dealers in the articles.
Do not let it be suppo _1 he begrudged to dealers that-pro-
fit, for tb at increase of profit in trade prov I the extension
of the trade ; therefore when legislation had been in one
nnifoi al coarse, he must say he held that al a general rule
nothing could 1 a weaker than to claim the return of du ,/
upon stocks in hand, inasmuch as tho. a stocks were not ma
survey, and thus there would be an opening to extensive
frauds. It was true that wlih r• %sect to m:n.e, it increased
in value by long keening. But on the other hand the value
of old wines would Lepend u-, at the du, ', wl- 'le the new
wine would be chiefly consumed by that class who could not
compote with the class who consumed the old wines. He
did not believe there ever was a time when these considera-
tions told more than they did at present. He believed that
all houses in the wine trade who sent round circulars put in
low prieel t.) make them attractive. They were what were
called the cheap houses in the trade, and he himself received
a circular :som one of those house-, which c 'gyred him
old port at £2 10s. per dozen. Now he believed that that
would not be worth 61. less from the change of duty.
Therefore from all these general grounds there was no rea-
son whatever for ellowing any drawback upon wines in
stock. At the same time, athough there was no justreason
founded upon general grounds for such a course, there did
happen to be a specific or partial arrangement under which
a claim on the ground of geed faith might be thought to
have arisen, in 1839 and lel(k, there began a negotiation
with France for a reduction in the N%:ne duties, and t' et
MT.; continua for one or two years ; before that was over a
n ;otiation began with Porte,: al; and t'iosa were follow- i
by negotiations with Spain. In consequence of these nego-
tiations there was produced a paralysis in the wine trade,
end the dealers made an appheacion to Sir R. Peel's Go-
vernment for relief, and Mr. Goulburn, who was then Chan-
&Per of the Exchequer, though objecting to -allow draw-
; _cks ui m wine in stick, did think there were special rea •
coos in the common intereat of revenue and trr le, for mak-
ing an arrar wement, and it was founded upon the belief that
there should be no drawback except in the event of a neem-
tiation being followed by a commercial treaty, and that
would keep the trade in a healthy condition, whereas the 'e
had been a great &flirt°.b off .' om the e.:pectation of the
treaty. Therefore the Treasury in 18'3 passed a minute
which was perfectly distinct and definite in its terms, the
effect of which was this, that all persons should be Flowed
to make claims for drawback upon certain wines in their
possession upon eel tai's conditions, in the event not of re-
duction of wine duties, but of a reduction under a treaty.
The conditions were these, that in any a et which might be
passed on the conclusion of a treaty for r' lucing the duties
on any foreign wine, provision should be made tor allowing
dealers a return of duty upon all such as- were in bond, pro-
vided a stock equal thereto should be found in the dealer's
possession when the duty was reduced, and that the wine so
found, and in respect of which a drawback was claim( 1, had
been paid within two years. if Portuguese and Spanish, and
six months ic any other fore] gn wioe. The Government found
this minute in existence in 1843. It attain- I its object and
restored confidence in the trade, by nlacing it ae.ain in it-.
natural condition, and so it went on till all idea or the com-
mercial treatry was abandoned. The minute was, later in
the year, extended by order of the Board of Excise to all
wine the dealers might have in their possession at the time
of reduction of duty, limited to the quantity upon which
they had paid the duty in the terms of the minute, anti
proof of identity of wine was no longer required. The
whole matter then passed out of view. In 1852, it was sag-
gested that it would be satisfactory to the trade if they Were
permitted to commence acting again under the minute of
1813, and accordingly new directior a were issued from the
Board of Irland Revenue that they might conform to the
original minute of 1813, but the extension of that minute
was withdrawn. The order of the Board of Excise of 1843
was expressly cancelled in 1852. The Government found
this minute in existence. It was quite true that dealers in
wine had suffered none of the inconvenience which attended
former treaties. There was no protracted delay, no publi-
city, and nothing to interfere with the regular action of
trade. But without entering into these considrations, which
might be thought to partake of the nature of special plead-
ing, he might state that as the Government found there was
a considerable portion of the wine trade who had acted upon
the minute as it stood. and ready to produce their books to
show they had so acted, they thought it right to propose to
the committee to allow the drawback to those who had con-
formed to the minute ; although he had told many of those
gentlemen that they enjoyed extreme good fog Tune, for he
had no doubt they would lose nothing at all by the altera-
tion in duty, but that they would in a great many cases
pocket the same money twice over. But inasmuch as they
kad acted under a contract, he hoped the committee would
confirm that contract, though he did not propose that they
should go in the slightest degree beyond the terms of the
minute. As to going beyond the terms of the minute,
and elloa :ng vague demands to be made upon the
public purse, he thought that such demands cord
n
ot be justified by the spirit of the letter of that con-
tract, and he thought it would be the duty of the Govern-
ment to offer a firm resistance to any such demand. The
first part of the resolution he had to place in the hands of
the chairman declared that the wine duty sh .uld imme-
diately fa". from 5a 9d a gallon, to 3s a gallon, and the next
allowed a drawback on exportation up to the 31st of March,
1861; the third gave a drawback to dealers in wine who
had complied with the nrovisions of the minute of the Trea-
sury, dated the 24th Jr ly, 1843, and after that came the
closing part of the resolution, which provided fora further
fall of the M ;ne duty at a later date, and a further draw-
back according to the difference between 3s a gallon and the
sum at which the new du,:es might be finally fixed. In
reading the resolutkin he should propose that the choir-
men should stop at the figures 2s. 9d. per gallon, which
were immediately before the scale prescribing the alcoholic
t 2st. The effect of that woad be to put before the commit-
tee the arrangement which was to take place immediately.
and to postpone for further emsideration that which related
to the final fall ofthe duties. An opinion might exist that
whatever change should take place in the wine duties should
be entire and at once. The Government were aware that
there were vr- :or s questions of convenience connectedN, :th
the course of trade wlich would be best served by an ar-
rangement of that kind. To traders, no doubt it would
have been convenient that the change should have be an
complete and immediate ; but the objections to that course
were greater than its recommendations. The first objection
was one of revenue, and he thought to make the change so
great by a single stroke would inflict on the revenue a loss in
the first instance, and for a little time very much more serious
than it would have to bear according to the plan proposed by
the Government. But besides that, he con.essed he did not
think he co,-Id venter() upon so hazardous an experiment
with a due regard to the interests of the consumers. (Hear.)
They must consider what was the state of the stock of wine in
this country. There had been no notice given to enable the
grower and the manufacturer of wino abroad to make any
preparation whatever for this change. They bad had no
notice whatever of the probability of the English market
being opened to them till whhin the last few weeks, and
though the stocks in this country were sufficient for the
change recommended, the Government did not think they
were more than sufficient—they were cerne:t—radoeiefnournlrycieutnnisolonttshueffie3ieln4t
for the full and entire reduction of the duty, which the plan
of the Government ultimately contemplated, and the change
it woul I actually produce. The continental growers might
be able to make some additional exportation this year, but.
in all probability that addition would not be a large one. It
might be doubted whether the period he had fixed for the
second reduction was the proper one, but at present it seemed
clear to him that a moderate interval should be allowed be-
lotiwn,
would
dh
itnelhioewifilbersehtiraadlneda thoughtvfi final t aol
nf fall.
move
it
vt. e
necessary
aThosesth the first
wfire
srt
teo
resolution, thevariouscomment,
o,
‘nid. pointsii?h heet
oafndthabellodsuvetides
cifilliol7orlisgeve'llidng duties shall be charged thereon, tt
joenni
es d now
0 na and
the drawbacksertielesu
impor-
tation into the United Kingdom, viz.
:—Until
oflBBo6olh,
Foreign Countries—Redw,inintcheh:es3isvg.ea;l—wloinNtVh,
i na3ens ;aolflowawhnald. ute(,,efrt(flin:
drawback on exportation until the said 31st March, allowance
inclusive, of 3s. per ;gallon on such wine exported r 1
as ships' stores, but that no drawback be granted on (51
used
as
wineol l 1 11; eand
1 who liitahvaen compliedallowance
of the Lords of the Treasury, dated the 7th July, 1813, Rto
the foreign wine which they have hadin stock on the —F. a
o. b ,
1860, on the conditions of the said minute, at tire rate Of
2,,. 01 per gallon." The resolution having been read from
the chair, •
Mr. 11. BAILLIE said before it was agreed to he hoped
that more satisfactory iaformation would be given to the
committee by the right hon. gentleman as to the mode by
which he intended to supply the deficiency in the revenue.
In asking that question ho assured the right hon. gentle-
man that he and those who sat on that side of the house
had no objection to the remission or reduction of excise
duties, and the encouragement of trade; but there was a-
time for all things, and they thought that when there was
a large and admitted deficiencliin the Exchequer this was
not the proper time to make such hazardous experiments as
those proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The
financial statement of the right hon. gentleman was '