WAYS AND MEANS. (Hansard, 24 May 1860)

§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
said, he had to propose a Resolution requiring the makers of British wines to take out licences for either making or selling the same wholesale, the amount of which was fixed at half the amount which the venders paid. The right hon. Gentleman moved— That, towards raising the Supply granted to 1694 Her Majesty there shall be charged and paid the following Duties of Excise, that is to say—For a Licence to be taken out by every maker of any kind of Sweets or Made Wines, or of Mead or Metheglin, for sale or by any dealer who shall sell the same in any quantity amounting to two gallons or upwards, or in one dozen or more reputed quart bottles at one time, £5 5s.

§ MR. AYRTON
thought the right hon. Gentleman was taking effectual means to prevent the public getting good wine at all. As far as he could discover, before dealing in wines a trader would have to pay £19 19s. for licences, which was a large tax to impose on a person before he could embark in business. The greatest chance of the public having good wine was in the establishment of many traders who would deal in it wholesale and retail, and he had hoped that the right hon. Gentleman would have proposed one consolidated charge, after payment of which the dealer would be able to sell any quantity, large or small, as long as it was in bottle. With regard to British wine, it was much purer than a great deal of that which came from abroad. The process of manufacture here was, that dried grapes were placed in a vat with water, the juice being pressed out of them and allowed to ferment; and the wine thus produced was consumed in large quantities by people who were above the vulgar prejudice of thinking that that which came from abroad and had a high-sounding name was better than home productions. The whole tendency of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's proposals was to force the sale of wine upon the premises. It was his impression the other evening, on coming out of Committee, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer intended the Bill to extend to British wines. The night after the right hon. Gentleman stated that it was to be confined to the sale of foreign wine. Did the right hon. Gentleman, he would ask, intend, according to promise, to bring in another Bill regulating the sale of British wine to be drunk on the premises? As the case stood Parliament was called upon to alter our municipal law to promote the consumption of a foreign commodity, while it did nothing to extend the consumption of an article made in our own country.

§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
said, he must really decline to follow the hon. Member into a discussion of the Wine Licences Bill. It might have been supposed that the hon. Gentleman had spoken long enough during the course of this discussion, but he seemed quite in- 1695 satiable. As to the necessity of a new law respecting the consumption of British wine he was not aware that any such necessity existed, nor did he remember to have promised the introduction of any measure on the subject. What he said was that the sale of British wine might be regulated by the existing law. With regard to British wine, which the hon. Member seemed to think was made much more legitimately here from raisins than by expression from the grape in the country of its birth, it was to be remembered that these raisins were imported at a low duty, whereas the foreign wine paid a high rate of duty. The hon. Member, of course, could not be expected to sympathize with the exchequer in such a case; but the two articles contributed to the revenue in very unequal degrees, and this was an element which could not be entirely left out of consideration. A difference was recognised in the amount paid for licences— namely, ten guineas for a wholesale foreign wine, and five guineas for a British wine licence; but he should have no objection to allow persons who paid the higher amount to deal in both kinds of wine.

§ MR. BOVILL
said, he thought it would be difficult to interpret the expressions "sweets" and "made wines" to be found in the Bill. Would "sweets" include "bitters?" Then a large proportion of port and sherry was manufactured in and about London, elder wine and logwood being prime ingredients in the former concoction. Within a short distance of that House there was a manufactory of champagne from rhubarb. Would those be "made wines" within the meaning of the Resolution?

§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
said, that the expressions objected to were certainly not to be justified upon abstract grounds, and fell short of the standard of purity which the hon. and learned Member wished to set up in the wording of the Act. But they were in accordance with usage, and would be, he believed, adequate for the purpose. "Sweets," he was informed, was the legal description of British wines, and "made wines" would comprise any of the other miscellaneous compounds sold under the name of wine.

	£	s.	d.
For a Licence to be taken out by every maker of any kind of Sweets or Made Wines, or of Mead or Metheglin, for sale, or by any dealer who shall sell the same in any quantity amounting to two gallons or upwards, or in one dozen or more reputed quart bottles at onetime	5	5	0