The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-08-05 00:00:00

THE WINE AND SPIRIT TRADE.

, A public meeting of the merchants engaged in the wine
and spirit trade of this port was held in the Clarendon
Rooms, yesterday, " for the purpose of receiving from the
chairman a report of his conference with the government
upon very important business."
Mr. WILLIAM DIXON, jun., the chairman, who had
been appointed by the public meeting of the 21st ult. to
proceed to London, as a deputation on behalf of the trade,
took the chair, and proceeded to read a long written detail
of his proceedings in the metropolis, in conjunction with
Mr. Moore, chairman of the Bristol association. He pro-
ceeded to London on the 22nd, and was joined by Mr.
Moore on the 23rd. In the first instance, he called upon
Mr. Wainwright, from whom he learned that the Cus-
toms Consolidation Bill would be read the second time
that evening, and he feared that the expected audience
would not be granted, the session being so nearly closed.
He next waited upon Lord Sandon, with whom he had
many interviews, and also upon Sir Howard Douglas.
Mr. Moore, also, waited upon Mr. Berkeley, one of the
members for Bristol; Mr. Miles, the other member, had
left London. On Friday morning they went down to the
house, and Sir Howard Douglas took them into the bill-
office, where he (the chairman), for the first time, saw the
warehousing bill, and he found the 22nd clause precisely
the same in every respect as the 19th section, 3 and 4,
Wm. IV., chap. 57, being the old story of one gallon for
every six months, except as applied to rum. Sir Howard,
at his request, asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to
expunge this clause and substitute the following, " that
all wines and spirits be chargeable only on the existing
quantities and strength when taken out of bond for home
consumption;" but the chancellor replied—" I see the
drift of this, I will not admit it." Mr. Moore, and he
(the chairman) next called on the chairman of the
board of customs, in order to accelerate their report
to the treasury, but it had been sent in the
previous day. During this interview, the chair-
man of the Customs stated some persons considered
he was not friendly disposed towards the outports, but
he assured them he regarded the interests of the out-
ports with as much attention as those of the metropolis;
the outports he considered, were entitled to full allow-
ances for wastages, and if the scale now in operation were
inadequate he was willing to extend it. He (Mr. Dixon)
replied that no scales were wanted except those of even
handed justice. He only wanted brandy, Geneva, and
wines to be placed under the same legislative protection
as colonial spirit, not resting on treasury minutes, but in-
troduced into the warehousing act now before the house.
The chairman rejoined " That I decidedly oppose," but
he declined to enter into discussion upon it. Some fur-
ther conversation followed, and they withdrew. On re-
turning to Mr. Wainwright, the were informed the Trea-
sury had sat the previous day upon the Customs' report,
and decided against them. Lord Sandon then gave no-
tice, on the 28th, that on the bringing up the report on the
warehousing bill, to propose an amendment, by which
the full wastage, from natural causes, should be allowed on
wine and spirits in warehouses of sufficient security as
well as of special security. His lordship, in moving this
amendment, asked upon what ground the government
could refuse to admit the same legislative protection to
brandies and wines as had been granted to rum, and why
the protection given to one liquid should be refused to
another ? The Chancellor of the Exchequer was not pre-
sent, and Mr. Cardwell replied that the government were
desirous of affording to the outports every relief and facility,
but the present was not the fit time for discussing
the subject, as the bill was one merely for the purpose of
consolidation. Lord Sandon replied, that alterations had
been made in some of the bills, and the one he proposed
was therefore quite practicable. Mr. Cardwell, however,
gave no answer to the distinct question of the noble lord.
Lord Sandon then informed him it was quite clear the
alteration would not be made, but promised to use his
best influence to obtain an audience of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer. An audience was eventually appointed
for Tuesday morning. They were accompanied to the
office in Downing street by Lord Sandon, Sir Howard
Douglas, and the Hon. 11. P. Berkeley. There were
with the Chancellor, the Chairman of the Board of Cus-
toms, and Mr. Cardwell. He (Mr. Dixon) opened the
proceedings by stating he had been deputed by a public
meeting of the wine and spirit trade, to solicit this
conference for the purpose of placing Liverpool,
and the other ports, on the same footing in every
respect as London ; that they desired the same le-
gislative protection on all spirits and wines that had
been conceded to rum, and that if they omitted to make
their wishes known at this time, any application after-
wards would come with a bad grace, as it would
naturally be the object of the government to render the
Customs Consolidation Bill perfect and conclusive.—The
Chancellor of the Exchequer, in reply, said the ware-
houses at the outports were differently circumstanced to
the bonded stores at the London docks—that they were
only of sufficient security, whilst those at London were of
special security ; that the London warehouses had been
erected at considerable expense, being surrounded by
walls, which expense had not been incurred at the out-
ports. It would therefore be an act of injustice to take
from the London warehouses the immunities held cut to
them in conseqnence of their superior advantages; and
moreover, he could not grant to one or two outports ad-
vantages without extending them to all the rest. The
whole wastage was confined to colonial spirit, because its
importation was confined to three or four trading ports;
the other had no connection with the British settlements.
Lord Sandon took the same views as himself (Mr. Dixon),
and contended that no walls could be a protection against
atmospheric influences; and Mr. Moore defended the
perfect security of the bonded stores et the outports for
all practical purposes, observing that in addition to the
officers having full possession of them, the govern-
ment had the additional security of a heavy bond into
which merchants were obliged to enter. They merely
wanted to have placed under legislative enactment, which
could not be disturbed, what was now enjoyed by treasury
minutes, but which might, at any time, be refused. He
(Mr. D.) replied, expressing his hops that the few words
he had suggested should be substituted for the 22d section
of the warehousing act, even though it was the eleventh
hour. The Chancellor replied--" I cannot do it now;
have refused five hundred applications for alterations."
Lord Sandon then asked permission to have extended to
wines the same condition that applied to brandy, namely,
that when the wastage exceeded the scale of allowance
laid down, the officers of customs might be instructed to
allow it where there had been no fraud. The Chancellor
said he could see no objection to that, for they had that
day decided on grenting what he (the Chairman) had ap-
plied for, namely, the allowance on small packages of
wines imported from Marsala, the. Cape, &c. His (the
chairman's) next movement was to request a return of the
duty that had been paid for the wastage on small pack-
ages of wine, from the 22nd January to the Bth April last,
which had twice been refused by the treasury. The
Chancellor replied that this request could not be granted,
because the wines had been removed from the custody of
the officers of customs, and in such cases no return of duty
was made; but on two cases being mentioned where the
money had been returned, a promise was made that the
application should be taken into consideration. They
then retired, leaving Lord Sandon, who remained on
some other matters ; and in going, Sir Howard Douglas,
who had throughout shewn the greatest anxiety on
the subject, expressed his conviction that in the next
session they would certainly obtain what they wished
embodied into an act. The trade had thus obtained every.
thing they wished for with regard to wastage and evapora-
tion on wines and spirits in bond. True, it rested only
in treasury orders, but he had received full assurance from
the heads of the three important departments connected
with the revenue, that what had been now granted would
never he disturbed. Still, it would be for consideration,
whether, in another session, they should not apply for the
immunities they now enjoyed to he secured by an act of
parliament. The outports thus, at length, enjoyed the full
allowances for waste and evaporation on all wines and spi-
rits to the like extent as the London merchants. He there-
fore offered, to all the trade, his hearty congratulations,
and also to all in the outports connected with the importa-
tion of colonial spirit, for had he not succeeded thirteen
years ago, through the assistance of Lord Sandon, in get-
ting ruin exempted from the operation of the 19th section
of 3 and 4 Wm. IV. c. 57, the whole of the importations
of rum must inevitably have centred in the London docks,
for it would have been almost impossible for the merchants
at the outports to have competed with those of London,
under the positive loss of 16 per cent. ad valorem, which
would have been permanently inflicted upon them. The
benefit thus derived amounted, in round numbers, to
£150,000 per annum, which the trade. at the outports had
before to pay on taking their wines and spirits out of
bond for home consumption, an amount which, not com-
ing in the way of direct taxation, was an indirect abstrac-
tion from their legitimate profits. Calculating from par-
liamentary returns giving an account of the annual cons
sumption of foreign spirits and wines, and taking the
estimate of waste and evaporation on a scale considerably
below that of the allowances, and below what he believed
was actually experienced, the saving amounted, since the
immunity was granted in 1824 (before which the duty
had to be paid on the quality and strength at the time of
importation), to £3,113,320; and they had the further
satisfaction of looking forward with perfect confidence to
the annual saving of .£150.000. The chairman concluded
by expressing his acknowledgment of the courtesy of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the services of Lord
Sandon and Sir H. Douglas.
Mr. R. W. PRESTON, after a few remarks eulogistic of
their services to the mercantile interest of this port,
moved a vote of thanks to the members for the borough
for their services on this occasion.
This and the remaining resolutions will ire found in our
advertising columns.
INS' A

4ULTING „NNOONCEMENT BY A FOREIGN Po-
TENTATE.—A paragraph in the Times, dated " Good-
wood, Friday," contains the following announcement :
" Before we give the usual returns of the racing, we
should state that the King of the Netherlands took his
departure for London this morning. His Majesty has
given a gratifying proof of the pleasure he received from
his visit, by signirying his intention to present a cup, to
be run for next year, to be called ' The Orange Cup,' and
to be weights for age." THE ORANGE CUP—mercy on
us ! The very horses must refuse to start for a prize so
unfortunately named. Her Majesty's ministers, at any
rate, could not, with any degree of propriety, advise the
presence of their royal mistress to see a cup contended
for which naughty people may say has been christened
in mockery of their own Anti-Protestant policy. An
ORANGE Cur ! We should not wonder to see a brigade
of shillaleghs march from St. Giles to pull down from the
stand so insulting an emblem of British supremacy.
Thomas Scott, of Kelso, an extensive cattle dealer, has
left this part of the country under embarrassed circum-
stances. Rumour states that the amount of his liabilities
exceeds £2o,ooo.—Tyre Mercury.
MUMMY.—A natural mummy has been discovered at
Possession Island, in Saldanha Bay, near to Ichaboe, on
the southern coast of Africa, and has been brought to
Hull in the ship Toronto. The mummy is that of a ne-
gro, apparently about 25 years of age, length 5 feet 10
inches.