§ MR. HUSSEY VIVIANasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention had been called to a resolution passed at a great Conference of Licensed Victuallers, on the 29th June, denouncing the evils which are caused by "Spurious Clubs" where liquor is sold, and claiming that these Clubs should be subjected to supervision and limitation of hours of sale and consumption as in the case of all licensed traders; and, whether, in accordance with that resolution, he is able to take any steps towards checking what appears to be a rapidly increasing evil?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT, in reply, said, he was quite aware of the mischief of the matter to which the hon. Gentleman referred. As would be easily understood, the great difficulty was to distinguish between spurious clubs and clubs that were not spurious. It was a matter that required careful looking into; but he could not say that he had as yet been able to arrive at anything like a conclusion with regard to it. Of course, any place called a club, merely as a pretext for selling liquor without a licence, would be dealt with at once; but his difficulty was to determine whether these places were or were not bonâ fide clubs.