§ MR. BIGGARasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, If he is aware that licences to retail beer and wine for consumption of the premises, specified in section forty-two of the Revenue Act of 1880 as being obtainable in the United Kingdom for the sum of £3 0s. 0d., have been refused to Irish traders producing the usual certificate of authority from magistrates sitting in petty sessions; whether the Collectors of Revenue in Ireland compelled traders to take out two separate licences, one for beer, at a duty of £4 11s. 1¾d.., the other for wine, at £2 10s. 0d., making a total duty of 229 £7 1s. l¾d.; and, if he will take steps to prevent a similar overcharge being levied in future, and direct these licences to be issued in accordance with the Act referred to?
§ LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISHSir, I am not aware that the new £3 licence referred to has been refused to anyone entitled to obtain it—that is to say, to any beer dealer in Ireland duly provided with magisterial authority and with a beer dealer's licence for which he has paid £3 6s. l¾. Without these— both of which are required under the Irish Licensing Laws—the combined licence cannot be issued. Collectors of Inland Revenue have not, so far as I am aware, compelled any trader to take out the separate licences referred to in the second paragraph of the Question; but if from any cause they had been taken out separately, the sums mentioned would have been due, and no overcharge has been made. In October next, traders can avail themselves of the £3 combined licence under the Act of 1880 to retail beer and wine off the premises; but, in order to obtain that, the qualifying beer dealer's licence, as before explained, must first be produced, and this would make a total charge of £6 6s. l¾d.