§ Mr. Laboucherewished to put a question, of which he had given notice, to the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which was of great importance to the inhabitants of the Channel Islands. He understood that it had been, for some time past, the habit of persons in those islands to manufacture spirits of materials of British growth, and to import them into this country by paying the Excise duty only. That had been stopped of late by the right hon. Gentleman. A Report of the States of Jersey, who appeared to have carefully considered the matter, had been sent to him, and they declared that every means had been taken to discover whether or not fraud had been used in the manufacture of those spirits; and they believed that none had been committed, but that the spirit was manufactured from materials of British growth, and that the inhabitants had, therefore, the right to import it upon paying the Excise duty. He wished to know of the right hon. Gentleman, if this statement were correct, why the delivery of those spirits into the dealers' stocks in this country had been prohibited?
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid, that though Gentlemen acquainted with the Excise law and its different bearings must be aware how difficult it was to answer questions upon its several provisions, yet he should endeavour to explain as clearly as he could the nature of this case. The practice of introducing spirits from Jersey was of very recent growth, and was commenced by a gentleman who established a manufactory in Jersey. Under this Customs' law, spirits manufactured from materials the growth of this country were admitted into this country upon paying the Excise duty; and in the case of plain spirits, no difficulty existed in the Excise giving permits on the admission of those spirits into the dealers' stocks; but the Customs' law specifically described that compound spirits, in addition to the duty levied by the Cus- 137 toms, should be subject to the regulations of the Excise. The spirit from Jersey was called British brandy, and was a compound spirit. For the same reason, such spirit coming from Scotland or Ireland would not be admitted into the stocks of dealers. Seeing, however, that the Excise refused to admit this British brandy, the parties importing complained to the Treasury, and, as it was the first case, the Treasury decided that they would allow that particular lot which had then been introduced to be taken into consumption; but they gave distinct notice to the importer and to all the parties of the real state of the law, which prohibited compound spirits coming from Jersey being admitted into the stocks of dealers. The question at issue was merely as to the construction of the Act of Parliament; and upon the refusal of the permit by the Excise, an application was made by the parties for a mandamus to compel the Excise to admit it into the stocks of dealers. The Court of Queen's Bench refused to grant the mandamus, and it had been, therefore, clearly established by law that those spirits could not be admitted. At the same time he thought it was desirable that there should be some alteration in the existing law, and the question was now under the consideration of the Treasury.