HC Deb 11 February 1847 vol 89 cc1220-1

The Distilling from Sugar Bill was reported.

MR. MOFFATT

proposed the addition of a proviso, to follow Clause 10:— That it shall be Lawful for distillers to warehouse, for home consumption, Spirits distilled from Sugar, without payment of the Duty of Excise. The clause was mainly grounded on the allegation of the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had stated that it was his desire to place the manufacturer of colonial and British spirits upon precisely the same footing. His object was, to permit spirits distilled in Scotland and Ireland to be bonded in England. The Bill, as it at present stood, would be a perfect nonentity.

Clause read a first time. On the question that it be read a second time,

The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER

said, he must resist the Motion, as unfair to the distiller of grain. It was calculated to give an advantage to the distiller of sugar, to which he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) did not think he was entitled.

MR. HUME

wished to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he intended in any other Bill to place the spirits distilled in Ireland and Scotland on the same footing as spirits distilled in Jamaica? The latter was allowed to be bonded in this country; the former was not—why this inequality?

The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER

said, the present Bill, which was the only question before the House, was intended to place upon the same footing spirits distilled from grain and spirits distilled from sugar. It did not embrace the point alluded to by the hon. Member.

MR. GOULBURN

said, at another time the question of the hon. Member might afford subject for discussion; but at present it had nothing whatever to do with the matter before the House.

Clause withdrawn.

Bill to be road a third time.