NAMES OF WINES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20284, 19 April 1934, Page 1

NAMES OF WINES.

Ban May Affect Trade in Australia. The fear that Great Britain may become a signatory to an international agreement to prohibit the use by Empire and American vignerons of names of French wines, such as claret, chablis, burgundy and sauterne, was expressed last week by a leading Australian wine authority. The agreement, if it is reached, will take place at the International Conference for the Protection of Industrial Property, beginning in London on May 1. Explaining the position of the Australian industry, the secretary of the Viticultural Society of Victoria (Mr W. J. Seabrook), a leading wine broker, said that a similar threat to Empire wine interest had been made at the last meeting of the conference at The Hague in 1925, w’hen Great Britain had voted against the measures proposed by the French delegates. “ Since then, however,” he continued, “ there has been a great increase in the use, notably by Japan, of names of famous Bristol pottery and Sheffield steel lines. Britain may feel that she will be forced to obtain a restriction in this, and will possibly be unable to demand further concessions on behalf of Australia and South Africa. “If the agreement is reached, the damage to the Australian industry will be very great.”