§ MR. SHIRESS WILL (Montrose Burghs)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer—(1) whether a payment of 2d. per gallon is made, out of moneys raised by Imperial Taxation, to exporters of spirits manufactured in the United Kingdom; (2) whether he can state the amount so paid during the last financial year; (3) whether he will state to the House the reason for this payment, and since when it has been made; and (4) whether he will consider the propriety of the abolition of such a bounty?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Sir W. HARCOURT, Derby)(1) The fact is as stated. (2) The amount so paid in 1893–94 was £26,011. (3) Such payment is made to compensate traders for the loss estimated to attach to this portion of their business by reason of Excise Regulations. Their claim was established to the satisfaction of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue in 1860, and the allowance granted by a Resolution of this House in the same year. The reasons which led to their being granted seem to me still to exist.