§ MR. JOSEPH HOWARD (Middlesex, Tottenham)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, having regard to the fact that a change in the Army canteen system is under consideration whereby the management will be taken out of the hands of sergeants, who have hitherto been responsible for the canteens and have had no profit upon the sale of liquor, and that instead thereof it is proposed to introduce the tenant system, under which the contract for the sale of intoxicants to soldiers in barracks would be let to brewing firms; and, as the sale of intoxicants without the element of private profit is now being tried, whether he will arrange that if any change of the present system is necessary the future managers shall have no interest in the sale of intoxicants.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE WAR OFFICE (Lord STANLEY,) Lancashire, WesthoughtonCommanding officers are now enjoined not to employ brewers as tenants, and instructions already exist that in contracts for malt liquor to tenant canteens a stipulation is to be entered in the contract that the servants of the tenant receive no advantage direct or indirect from pushing the sale of liquor. The point to which the hon. Member refers will be brought especially to the notice of the Committee about to be assembled.