Mr. Goschen explained that he had taken measures to put
a stop to a system called " grogging," by which the revenue had lost, but in future would no longer lose, about 2200,000 a year. It was a system the object of which was to utilise the spirit that had been absorbed by the casks in which spirit had been kept in bond. The old casks, saturated with spirit, were filled with water, the water being allowed to stand for a considerable time till the spirit was drawn out and permeated the water, and so an alcoholic liquid was obtained on which no duty had been paid. By this process, a puncheon which had held a hundred gallons of spirit yielded from one and a half to three gallons of proof spirit, which was in effect, though not illegally, smuggled through the custom-house. In future the casks will not leave the bonded warehouse except under proper supervision, and the absorbed spirit will pay duty if it is allowed to pass at all.
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