§ MR. CALLANasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the Report of the Head Constable of Cardiff to the Watch Committee, in which he states that, since the Sunday Closing Act came into operation in the district on the 20th September 1882, to the 17th April last, there has been an increase, in the number of persons proceeded against for drunkenness, of 40 per cent., in the number convicted of 60 per cent., and a decrease in the number discharged of 22 per cent.; that the number of clubs has more than quadrupled; that illicit drinking is carried on to a great extent; and, whether he will move Amendments to place all clubs on the same footing as public-houses?
§ MR. CARBUTTsaid, that before the right hon. and learned Gentleman answered that Question, he should like to put another one—namely, Whether it was a fact that Cardiff was not within two miles of Monmouthshire, where the Sunday Closing Act was not in force; whether there was not a population of about 150,000 in close proximity to the Monmouthshire border, some of whom, since the passing of the Welsh Act, resorted on Sunday to Rompney, in Monmouthshire, and only two miles from Cardiff, to drink there; and, whether on their return home they did not naturally require the services of the Cardiff police, and thereby swelled the number
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT, in reply, said, that he had not yet seen the Report to which allusion was made, as it was issued annually, and was not yet due. If his hon. Friend behind him (Mr. Carbutt) were right, the state of drunkenness in Cardiff seemed to be due not to Sunday closing in Cardiff, but to Sunday opening in Monmouthshire. If, on the other hand, the contention of the hon. Member for Louth was correct, and Sunday closing increased drinking, then many of those who opposed that measure ought to support it. However, the subjects touched upon in the Question were worthy of careful inquiry.