926 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 
STATISTICS. 
The earliest records of the area under grape vines for wine- 
making in New South Wales are for 1843, when 508 acres were 
returned. In 1850 there were 1,069 acres ; in 1860, 1,583 acres ; 
and in 1866, when Coghlan’s Statistics commence, 1,248 acres ; 
in 1875, 3,077 acres; in 1885, 2,405 acres; and in 1895, 4,475 
acres. ‘The figures for 1896 are as follows :—Total area under 
grapes, 7,519 acres; for wine-making, 4,390 acres ; yielding 
885,673 gallons of wine. 
If we compare these figures with the world’s production of 
wine in 1895 of probably 2,600 millions of gallons, the quantity 
is not worth talking about. France alone produced 1,000 millions 
gallons in 1896, the greater part of which (90 per cent.) was 
consumed by her own (36,000,000) people. In 1895 the United 
Kingdom imported of the world’s wines 15,8, millions of gallons, 
of which Australia supplied ,°, millions gallons, New South Wales 
figuring only to the extent of 6,249 gallons. Our total export 
trade for 1895 was merely 21,557 gallons, so that when the export 
of our wines is under discussion we may be said to have no export 
trade, and are scarcely likely to when it is considered that we do 
not supply sufficient good wines for the local demand which is 
expanding rapidly. It will be seen further on how certain legis- 
lative restrictions hamper the extension of the area under grape 
vines. 
THE PRESENT PUBLIC TASTE. 
In the present wine-distributing trade there are various types 
of customers to be catered for. The public-house interest calls 
for a full-bodied, deep-coloured, alcoholic red wine, approaching 
Burgundy in type ; also a fortified luscious red to serve as port, 
and be appreciated by old ladies of the lower classes. The prices 
are cut too fine for matured wines to be supplied, so that the reds 
are a blend of coastal with Murray or Inverell wines pushed into 
consumption at the earliest possible date. The ports are made by 
arresting fermentation by adding alcohol distilled at the vineyard. 
The public-house custom for the Burgundy type is limited to the 
comparative few who call for wine, more as a mark of social 
superiority than for any real appreciation of it as a beverage, and 
perhaps for this reason the licensed victualler has been quick to 
discern that local wines, provided the label is right, may be sold 
as European. Where Australian wines are stocked by the better 
class of hotels, the prices they are made generally to bear serve 
to check consumption. They ave, as a rule, of good quality, and 
more trade might be done but for the restrictive prices, especially 
when the privileges granted by the State in the license are con- 
sidered. Fortunately publicans do not hold an entire monopoly 
