§ MR. JOHN WILSON (Lanark, Govan)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate (1) whether his attention has been called to the small proportion which the proceedings against licence holders in Scotland for supplying intoxicating liquors to intoxicated persons bear to the number of persons convicted of drunkenness; and (2) whether he will call the attention of the police and the magistrates to the desirability of vigilantly enforcing the law in that respect?
§ *THE LORD ADVOCATETo the strict terms of the question the answer 268 would be that there can be no normal numerical relation between the two classes of offenders mentioned. But if the hon. Member means to point to a disproportion between the number of holders of licensed premises and the number of people charged with intoxication who became drunk in licensed premises, then the answer is that there are available statistics, because drunkenness in a licensed house is not a recognised and separate form of the crime of drunkenness. With regard to the last part of the question, I cannot undertake to admonish magistrates and police to be vigilant, unless I have reason to believe that they are negligent.