§ MR. STOREYI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether the Government will prepare and present to the House a Return of the licensed houses (distinguishing full licences from licences for "beer on") in each licensing area in the country, and setting out the situation of each such House, the name of the owner, and the name of the ostensible licensee?
§ *MR. W. H. SMITHThe Return presented on the Motion of the noble Lord the Member for Paddington seems to me to answer every necessary purpose. The Return the hon. Member asks for would be exceedingly difficult to obtain; it would be most costly, and is not required for any necessary purpose.
§ MR. STOREYIf the right hon. Gentleman will inquire I think he will find that every clerk to the Licensing Justices has at this moment a Return in his possession for the present year. I have seen a Return for one borough, and I could easily obtain similar Returns for other boroughs. I would, therefore, ask the right hon. Gentleman to consider the matter, and to request these gentlemen to forward copies of the Returns, as they contain information of extreme importance.
*MR. W. H.SMITHI will, of course, in answer to the request of the hon. Member, consider the matter; but I think he will see that a complete Return would be of a most voluminous character, seeing that some 110,000 persons or houses are licensed, and to give all the information asked for by the hon. Member would involve a considerable amount of labour and expense.