MR. BASSasked Mr. Attorney General, Whether the Intoxicating Liquors (Licensing) Bill, introduced by the Government of which he is the Law Officer, will affect contracts not yet complete for the purchase of leases of public houses for twenty-one years, while the Bill, in a large majority of cases, will affect such leases at the end of ten years?
THE ATTORNEY GENERALsaid, in reply, that the Question of his hon. Friend was a very wide one, and he must be permitted some latitude in replying to it. It was possible that in some cases contracts such as he described would be affected by some provisions of the Bill; but his hon. Friend would ac- 150 knowledge that it was very difficult to give an opinion on the effect of an Act of Parliament upon a contract unless one had the precise terms of the contract before him. He begged to suggest to his hon. Friend that, if he experienced any difficulty as to the effect of the Bill upon a particular contract, there were means of obtaining a legal opinion on the subject.