EXCISE DUTIES.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 62, 11 August 1874, Page 4

EXCISE DUTIES.

The “ New Zealand Times ” says : Attached to the report of the Select Committee appointed to take evidence on the subject of the excise duties, there is a statement by Mr R. M. Robertson, one of the partners in the firm who entered into the business of distillation in Dunedin, which is worthy of being quoted, as exhibiting the extent of the industry which they initiated, and the difficulties which they had to overcome at its commencement. Much of Mr Robertson’s statement, however accurate, is written of course with the object of illustrating what effect the proposed alteration in the excise duties would have upon their enterprise, but we quote only what relates to the past, and to the gradual development of the Dunedin distillery up 1 to the present time. Mr Robertson states, on behalf of the firm, that by reason of their own inexperience in the business, the impossibility of obtaining in the colony experienced hands, the inferior quality of the barley and other grain at that time obtainable, and other causes too numerous to particularise, they at first made heavy losses in the business, amongst which he enumerates the spoiling of 22,000 gallons of spirits, in consequence of their having attempted to utilise “ kauri ” in making vats, the gum from which tasted the spirit, and rendered its re-distillation necessary at a considerable loss, besides delaying business for'nearly a year and a half, by postponing for that period the time within which they could bring into consumption a matured and marketable spirit. Owing to the discovery that colonial woods were unsuitable for vats, and partly to the fact that, having been deceived as to the thickness of the copper of which the stills should have been constructed, they wore out in less than three years, instead of lasting for over ten years as they should have done, and necessitated having others made in the colony at a cost of over £2OOO. The whole expenditure, including the new vats, &o, was upwards of £6ooo,"besides the expenses incurred in keeping the men idle during a period of over three months, and the loss involved in the stoppage of the business, Since the renewed plant has been in working order the firm have been able to produce a superior article and in larger quantities, at the same expense of management, and have thus accumulated a stock of spirits over and above the quantity required to supply the demand, and this stock is gradually increasing, so that in the course of two or three years they hope to be in a position to send out nothing but a fully matured spirit. From the time they commenced business in October, 1869, up to the last balance in December, 1873, they had manufactured about 179,000 gallons of spirits from 98,743 bushels of malt and grain, all of which, except about 2000 bushels of malt made from barley imported from California (and on which a duty was paid), was grown in this colony. Of this quantity they had up to the end of the year 1873, sold 141,386 g i Hons at an average of about 7s per gallon. Mr Robertson mentions that the reason of their using Californian barley on the one solitary occasion on which they did so, was that the entire stock of barley in the provinces of Otago and Canterbury became exhausted, and they were obliged, in order to prevent a stoppage of the business, to send to California for a consignment of 10,000 bushels, 8000 of which they sold, partly tofarraeis as seed barley, and partly to brewers in the shape of malt. The above-mentioned quantity of 144,386 gallons was sold in the proportions following, viz. : From Oct., 1869, to Dec., 1870, 20,990 gallons „ Jan,, 1871, to Dec., 1871, 27,757 „ „ Jan., 1872, to Dec,, 1872, 40,639 „ „ Jan., 1873, to Dec., 1873, 54,999 „ Showing an annually increasing demand for the spirits manufactured at their distillery. The annual returns from the business (including sales of malt manufactured) have been as follows £ s. d. From Oct,, 1869, to Dec,, 1869... 773 6 0 . „ Jan,, 1870, to Dec., 1870...10,371 19 9 „ Jan., 1871, to Dec., 1871...17,360 18 2 „ Jan,, 1872, to Dec , 1872..,28,034 11 5 „ Jan,, 1873, to Dec., 1873.,.41,038 13 8

Of the 200,000 bushels of barley mentioned in the firm’s petition as having been consumed in their business as distillers and maltsters, above 100,000 bushels were converted into malt, and sold to brewers, Mr Robertson explaining that it is necessary to carry on the two businesses of malting and distilling in conjunction, for the reason that, although malt may, for certain reasons, be unsuitable for brewers, it is yet available for distilling.