Wine, the vine and the cellar / [Thomas George Shaw].

  • Shaw, Thomas George.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Wine, the vine and the cellar / [Thomas George Shaw]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    485/532 (page 465)
    ‘ 3. I have no objection to a uniform rate of one rupee duty on all wines of less value than twelve rupees a dozen, with the exception of sherry, port, madeira and marsala. These ai’e not light wines, and cannot be called such in any sense of the word. Burgundy and some clarets are not light wines ; hut when of the quality to exclude them from the class of light wines, they cannot be imported at twelve rupees the dozen. An analytical chemist in this town, when I spoke to him as to whether port at fourteen shillings the dozen could be a light wine, replied, “Port, sherry, and madeira are not light wines, even at a cost of one rupee the dozen.” Marsala I have known myself to give twenty-six per cent, of spirit. ‘ I imagine a good deal of tffe confusion at Bombay arises from parties who have not been brought up to the wine trade, and acting as agents for shippers from England, and proceeding on their own ideas as to what ought to be the rule, instead of, or what is the recognised practice of, the trade. ‘ J. A. Ceawfobd.’ .Tune 5, 1863.—By the receipt of Sir Charles Trevelyan’s Budget, we learn that all differential rates on wine are abolished in India, and that there is now a uniform tax of (one rupee) 2s. per gallon, instead of 2s. on what were considered light kinds, and 4s. on all others. This is a great improvement, but it is a very different amount of tax from about 13 per cent., ad valorem, as the corre- spondent of ‘ The Times ’ estimates it, and as that journal, in a leading article, states the duty now to be—viz. 13 per cent, on the value. Two shillings per gallon on a hogs- head of French wine of forty-six gallons, is 4:1. 12s, which is more than 100 per cent, on the cost of many common growths. The percentage will, of course, diminish, according to the price of the wine, and 13 per cent, is on the estimated value of 37L for a hogshead, which is a high estimate. It is 92/. 10s. for a pipe of port. II II