§ CAPTAIN NORTONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is aware that the existing law as regards cookshops presses severely upon certain classes in the poorer parts of the Metropolis; and that until recently the law has not been strictly enforced, the time being usually extended by from 30 to 40 minutes on Saturdays to meet the convenience of the public; and, whether he can see his way, since the Licensing Act of 1874 was directed chiefly against what were then known as night-houses, to give instructions to the police to show some little indulgence to the class of shopkeepers in question.
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYIt has always been the practice to enforce the closing of these shops at the time required by law, and the time has not been extended as stated in the Question. Very few complaints have been received in recent years in regard to this requirement of the law, and I have no reason for supposing that it presses hardly on certain classes in the poorer districts.