2; and the wine
which is now an astringent, cloudy, and muddy mixture of impurities,
would leave the vine-grower's store bright, and fit for the merchant's
vats in Limasol, and command a more than double price.
This is a matter
of certainty and not conjecture. Should the black wines be carefully
manufactured, they will be extensively used for mixing with thin French
wines, as they generally possess strength and body in large proportion
to their price.
It will be universally agreed that the making of the roads is the first
necessity; but if the island is in such financial misery that so
important a step must be deferred, the grievances of the vine-growers
should be immediately considered. The first question to the cultivator
would be, "What reforms do you yourself suggest?" He replies, "Fix an
annual rate per donum, and leave us free to send our wine wherever we
choose, without the abominable vexations and delays caused by the
present arbitrary system; let the tax per donum include every charge for
which we shall be liable: we shall then know at once the limit of our
liability." I cannot see any practical difficulty in such an
arrangement; a highway rate might be an extra when the roads should be
completed. A small export duty at the various ports would become a
material source of increase to the revenue when the wine trade became
invigorated and extended by government encouragement, and although such
a duty would indirectly affect the grower in the price which the
merchant would pay for the new wine, it would be a collateral tax that
would not be felt individually.
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