§ MR. O'DONNELLasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether it is true that the new prohibition Duties on 1693 British goods imposed by the Spanish Government has been declared by the latter to be intended as a retaliation for the effect of the British Wine Tariff on Spanish wines as compared with French wines; whether it is true that the Spanish wine-growers allege that the present British Tariff forces them to seek a market for their wines in England, not directly, but through the intermediary of French wine-manufacturers or wine-adapters, who, by converting the natural Spanish product into so-called French claret, are said to gain a large part of the profit which would otherwise be divided between the Spanish winegrower and the British consumer; whether a slight alteration in the British Wine Tariff would remove the grievance both of the Spanish wine-grower and the British consumer of Spanish wine; and, whether any sufficient grounds exist for continuing to maintain a Tariff which promotes the importation into this Country of immense quantities of artificial and spurious wine from France, at the expense of the natural wines of Spain that used to be so generally consumed?
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GLADSTONE),in reply, said, that the statement in the first paragraph of the hon. Member's Question was not perfectly accurate. There were no new prohibitory duties on British goods in Spain; but Spain had been effecting a legislative change which had an effect not similar to that of prohibition, but similar to that of enormous differential duties, he believed, upon most British commodities, and, consequently, instead of new prohibitory duties, the process ought to be described in general terms, not as prohibitory, but as leaving British goods at a great disadvantage in the Spanish market, in consequence of reduction of duty on the goods of other countries, and deliberately withheld from ours. The hon. Member asked, whether the operations of the Spanish Government had been declared by that Government to be intended as a retaliation for the effect of the British Wine Tariff on Spanish wines as compared with French wines? He (Mr. Gladstone) did not know whether any formal declaration of that kind had been made; but he might say that the Spanish Government had, at various times, complained very greatly of the operation of our Tariff of Wine 1694 Duties upon Spanish wines, and had followed up those complaints by the operation referred to in the Question. How far those complaints were justified would easily be judged by the House when it was known that the year before the Wine Duties were changed, and Spanish wine was placed at this "enormous disadvantage," of which complaint had been made, that there were 3,629,000 gallons of Spanish wine imported into England. In 1871, also under the operation of this "cruel Tariff," the Spanish wine imported into England was 9,389,000 gallons. It was quite true there had since then been a large diminution in the importation of Spanish wine; but that diminution, he believed, had been common to all descriptions of wine without any very great distinction, at least that he had heard of, and was owing to well-understood causes connected with the general question of the consumption of wine in this country. He might say that while, under the English Tariff which was thus complained of, the Spanish wine had increased its importation by 260 per cent, he did not think that any increase of British exports to Spain had ever been more than 40 or 50 per cent. Of that we made no complaint, and for it we inflicted no retaliation; and, on the other side, the course taken by Spain had been as he had described it. With regard to trade with France he could not answer the Question. There was, as the hon. Member ought to know, an enormous trade in Spanish wine into France, and, no doubt, that conversion of Spanish wine into so-called French wine was a matter having no connection with the question of re-importation into England. It was quite possible, indeed he would not dispute, that some foreign Spanish wine might be doctored into French wine, as he believed since the ravages of the Phylloxera, there had been a good deal of British gin doctored into French brandy. It was not the case that a slight alteration in the Wine Tariff would remove what the hon. Member called the "grievance" of the Spanish winegrower and the British consumer. An alteration in the British Wine Tariff to attain that purpose must be a considerable alteration, and must involve a considerable sacrifice of Revenue, which the fiscal engagements of this country did not enable them at this time to con- 1695 template, although it had been made known to the Spanish Government and all the world that we were perfectly ready to entertain that question, whenever the state of the Revenue and Expenditure permitted it. He had further to say that Papers on the subject would shortly be laid on the Table of the House, and would exhibit to the hon. Member the exact state of the Correspondence.
§ MR. MONKasked the right hon. Gentleman if he could state what would be the loss caused to the British Revenue by a reduction of the Spanish Wine Duty?
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GLADSTONE),in reply, said, he could not supply the figures at that moment, because no precise scale had been arrived at; but it was a loss that was estimated at hundreds of thousands of pounds.