§ Mr. CROFTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what differences in the duties charged on home, colonial, and foreign spirits have existed at various dates since 1860; and if he will explain the character and the amount of the differentiation at the present time?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe desired information will be found in Appendix No. 1 to the Report of the Industrial Alcohol Committee, 1905 (Command Paper No. 2477), to which I beg to refer the hon. Member.
§ Mr. GOLDMANasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he is aware that the existing surtax imposed on colonial and foreign spirits entering the United Kingdom is based on a Report of the Inland Revenue of 1866 and is calculated so as to allow for compensation for duty on foreign grain, ¾d., and loss from having to rectify spirit, and this in separate buildings not less than half a mile away, thus incurring a loss in manufacture and transit on spirits which have already paid duty, 2¼d.; and whether, seeing that at the present time there is no duty on either foreign or colonial grain, and that the duty on whisky is paid on the finished article, he intends to reduce or abolish the present surtax, or whether he will cause an inquiry to be made into the Excise Regulations in this country for the purpose of ascertaining accurately what the present surtax, if any, should be against foreign and colonial spirits respectively?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEA full account of the origin and history of the surtax is given in Appendix I. to the Report of the Industrial Alcohol Committee, 1905 (Command Paper 2,477). The existing rates were fixed in 1902, after a full and careful inquiry, and I see no reason for re-opening the question at the present time.