§ MR. CAINEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has yet received a Bill for the regulation of Boarding Houses, recently passed by the Manx Legislature, which provides for the granting to all boarding-house keepers in houses rated over £40 of licences to sell intoxicating liquors; 1354 if he is aware that there are over 200 such boarding-houses in the town of Douglas alone, and that there are already 131 licensed houses in Douglas, providing one for every 149 persons resident in the town; if he is aware that this number of licensed houses is greatly in excess of those in similar seaside resorts in Lancashire, the proportion of public-houses in Southport being one to 483, and in Blackpool one to 476; if he has received Memorials from a large number of inhabitants of Douglas, and resolutions from large-attended public meetings, protesting against this Bill; and if he will, under these circumstances, advise the Queen to withhold her Assent to the Bill until after the next General Election to the House of Keys?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. ASQUITH,) Fife, E.I am informed by the Governor of the Isle of Man that a Bill has been passed by the Manx Legislature, the main object of which is to give the Executive the additional powers necessary to enable it to put a stop to the illicit sale of intoxicating liquors in the boarding-houses in Douglas, which number 800 to 900. The Bill allows permits to be given for the sale of beer only, and then only to inmates, by the keepers of boarding-houses rated at £40 and upwards. These permits are only valid in the months of May to September. The sale is subject to restrictions and inspection. There are about 200 such boarding-houses in Douglas, where there are 73 (not 131) licensed public-houses. In calculating the proportion of public-houses to the resident population (about 21,000), my hon. Friend does not refer to the visiting population of nearly 300,000 in May to September. The Bill was accepted by the leaders of the temperance party in both branches of the Legislature as a tentative measure, for its operation is limited to two years, and its scope to Douglas. It is also approved, I understand, by the great bulk of the population, and only one or two meetings have been held to protest against it. The resolutions were, it is reported, moved at a meeting of about 70 persons, of whom only from 20 to 30 voted for them. The Bill, it is believed, will greatly conduce to the cause of temperance by stopping the present illicit sale of intoxicating liquors gene- 1355 rally. The Act in question was the Act of a local Legislature dealing with a matter of purely domestic concern within the sphere of its own powers. I do not propose to interfere.