WAREHOUSING OF BRITISH SPIRITS BILL.—COMMITTEE. (Hansard, 7 March 1864)

§ MR. LYGON

said, he rose to move that it be an Instruction to the Committee that they have power to provide for the Amendment of the law relating to the Warehousing of Foreign Spirits. The right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer when bringing in the Bill, moved to be allowed to introduce a measure relating to the Warehousing of British and Foreign Spirits, but the Bill itself dealt only with British spirits, and when being read a second time he endeavoured to obtain some information with regard to the omission of the provisions on the subject of foreign spirits. The necessity for that Bill arose very much from the Act for the consolidation of the Customs and Inland Revenue Establishments. One of the main points of the Bill turned on the 10th clause, which provided for the removal of British spirits in bond from the Customs' warehouses, and in the event of the Instruction which he was about to propose being adopted, it would be in the power of the Committee to insert a clause which would enable foreign spirits to be dealt with in like manner, mutatis mutandis.

§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER

said, that the Bill arose out of the deliberations of a Committee, on which the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster sat on the part of the Government, That Committee made no 1614 Report; and in drawing up the first Bill an error occurred, for it was discovered that there was no reason to suppose that the Committee desired to introduce into the law any change with respect to foreign spirits. The present Bill was, therefore, confined to the case of home-made spirits; and if they were to adopt the principle of making Excise warehouses available for foreign spirits they could not stop there, but must make them also available for tobacco, tea, sugar, and all other duty-paying commodities. The Excise warehouses, however, were not on a large scale, and were not adapted for the reception for foreign commodities imported into this country. If foreign commodities were placed under the supervision of the Excise, a complete system of inland bonding would have to be adopted, and a very heavy expense would be entailed on the Government. It was agreed that inland bonding should not be adopted without the greatest care and consideration. If it were resorted to it would be necessary to adopt also the extra charge of 5s. per cent, which was levied on all goods delivered out of bonded warehouses, in consideration of the trouble caused by the arrangement. The present measure afforded relief to the distiller's trade without any great trouble to the Government, and that trade was entitled to the most favourable consideration, inasmuch as it was pressed on by the duty being raised, by being opened to foreign competition, and, most of all, by the change of taste in favour of lighter liquors.