§ SIR HOWARD VINCENTI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer by what amount the estimated Budget surplus of £230,000 will be reduced by the concession of extra duty he was so good as to give the foreign and colonial producer of cheap wines; and how it compares with the £17,850 which would have been lost by remitting the whole of the extra duty in respect of wine produced in and imported from British colonies and possessions.
§ SIR M. HICKS-BEACHThe net loss from the concessions I made with regard to the duty on light wines in cask and bottle, after allowing for a gain from spirits in bottle, will probably be about £70,000. But it does not at all compare with my hon. friend's figure of £17,850; for if the colonies had been exempted from the increased duties, much more than that might have been lost by Colonial wines at the lower rate of duty taking the place of foreign wines which would have been subjected to higher duties.
MR. JAMES LOWTHER (Kent, Thanet)Would not such a process have largely promoted trade between the colonies and the Mother Country?
§ SIR M. HICKS-BEACHYes, but it would not have promoted my revenue.
MR. JAMES LOWTHERHas not the right hon. Gentleman already lost by the change from one system to the other?
§ SIR M. HICKS-BEACHNo, Sir, I have not.