§ * MR. WILLIAM JOHNSTON (Belfast, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if excise officers in Belfast have recently found in a bonded store a cask of whisky 30 per cent. weaker than it ought to have been; whether the matter has been referred to the Board of Customs; and whether any penalty has been or will be inflicted.
§ MR. HANBURYThe revenue officers employed in a bonded warehouse in Belfast under the Customs lately found that, after the contents of a number of casks of British plain spirits had been blended—which operation should have made the whole to be of uniform strength—and drawn off into separate casks, the spirits in one of the casks proved, on being tried, to be of considerably lower strength than that of the bulk, for, whereas the strength of the bulk was 22.5 degrees over proof, the contents of this cask were found to be of a strength of only 12.3 degrees under proof, or 34.8 degrees below the proper strength. The matter having been reported to the Board of Customs, and the explanation of the warehouse-keepers not being satisfactory, the Board have directed the seizure of the cask in question and its contents.
§ * MR. WILLIAM JOHNSTONWill the right hon. Gentleman give the name of the owner, because there are a number of innocent people in Belfast who may be implicated?
§ MR. HANBURYI don't know the name.
MR. PATRICK O'BRIENWas not the whisky extracted from the cask without the knowledge of the owner, by a thirsty Orangeman, who put water in its place?
§ * MR. WILLIAM JOHNSTONIs not the person referred to in the question Mr. Samuel Young, the Member for Cavan?
§ MR. SAMUEL YOUNG (Cavan, E.)I hope to be protected from these attacks. I am not the person.
§ * MR. SPEAKEROrder, order!