HC Deb 26 March 1867 vol 186 cc564-5
MR. AKROYD

said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If he has received any communication from the Portuguese Government favourable to the negotiation of a Treaty of Commerce upon the same terms as the French Treaty, provided that Portuguese Wines, although of a higher degree of proof than French Wines, be admitted at the same rate of Duty; and, whether he will lay the Correspondence upon the table of the House?

LORD STANLEY

For some months past a Correspondence has been going on between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of Portugal, having for its object the establishment of a new Treaty of Commerce between the two countries. I regret to have to add that that negotiation has not proved successful. The Portuguese Government insisted as a sine quâ non on an arrangement which would have the practical result of abolishing the alcoholic test as applied to wines. They claimed that their wines should be admitted at the lowest rate of duty at which the wine of any country is admitted into our ports. That question was very carefully considered by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, by my right hon. Friend the late President of the Board of Trade, and by myself, aided, of course, by the information and advice of the experienced officer of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise Departments, and we found ourselves compelled to come to the conclusion that the imposition of a uniform rate of duty on all wine would not only lead to considerable temporary loss to the revenue—a loss, no doubt, which might afterwards be made up by increased consumption—but would give so much encouragement to illicit distillation as very seriously to endanger the increased revenue derived from spirits. We were willing to consent to a comparatively slight modification of the higher rate of duty on wines; but the amount of the concession which we thought we could safely offer was not such as to satisfy the Portuguese Government, and accordingly those negotiations have come to an end. I shall have no objection to lay before the House the Correspondence which has passed upon the subject.