§ VISCOUNT MELGUNDsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is the intention of the Government to move for a Select Committee upon the laws concerning the sale and consumption of excisable liquors in Scotland.
§ SIR ANDREW AGNEWsaid, he would suggest that a Royal Commission should be appointed to investigate the subject.
§ MR. WALPOLEsaid, that there were very conflicting opinions in Scotland as to the mode in which any inquiry should be instituted into the operation of the Forbes Mackenzie Act. He thought that some inquiry was imperatively required for the satisfaction of the contending parties, for he was sure that until it was instituted no satisfactory agreement upon the question could be arrived at. Now, as to the best mode of such an inquiry there was some difficulty. If a Select Committee were appointed all the parties concerned should be brought from Scotland to give evidence, and he had his doubts whether even then they could come to any satisfactory result. The inclination of his mind was that in order to avoid delay and expense it would he better to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into the subject. Such a mode of proceeding would, he believed, give satisfaction to all parties.