§ MR. HENRY J. WILSON (York, W.R., Holmforth)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that, on the 1st October, 1889, when thy Licensing Magistrates on the Bench at Cremer were Messrs. Cremer, Harbord, and Cabbell, Mr. Harbord left the Bench, applied to his colleagues Messrs. Cremer and Cabbell for a provisional licence, obtained it, and returned to the Bench; that Mr. Cabbell then loft the Bench, applied to his colleagues Messrs. Cremer and Harbord for a provisional licence, and obtained it; whether the fact of Mr. Harbord having become a licence-holder disqualified him from acting as a Licensing Magistrate; whether, for taking part in granting Mr. Cabbell's licence, he became liable to any, and what penalty; and whether the Lord Chancellor has taken, or will take, any notice of these translations of the Cromer Justices?
§ MR. MATTHEWSI am informed that Mr. Harbord had not taken his seat on the Bench when his application was dealt with. His application was merely for a provisional licence, which is of no validity until it is confirmed. It was made in respect of an hotel proposed to be erected on property of which he was Trustee, and the plans of which had been approved at a previous meeting of the Bench. Under these circumstances I am advised that Mr. Harbord was not disqualified by this provisional licence from acting in the case of Mr. Cabbell's application, and that there has been no breach 0f the law.