§ MR. CLANCY (Dublin County, N.)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been directed to the action of the local Inland Revenue authorities in a case in which a person named Edward Keely recently obtained, at the Castleblayney (County Monaghan) Quarter Sessions, a certificate entitling him to a transfer of a public house licence from one Charles Moley; and to the fact that the Inland Revenue authorities in question have refused to act on the certificate of the County Court on a legal point decided against their contention by the County Court Judge; and, if so, will he state whether this action had his sanction, and whether he proposes to take any, and, if so, what steps in the matter.
§ MR. RITCHIEMr. Edward Keely applied for a transfer of a "six-day and early closing" licence from Mr. Moley in October last. The Quarter Sessions in granting the transfer extended the certificate so as to authorise Mr. Keely to apply to the Excise for a "six-day" licence. This licence the Board of Inland Revenue declined to grant, and I am advised that their action is supported by a decision of Lord Chief Justice O'Brien in a somewhat similar case, in which the Court held that the Licensing (Ireland) Act 1902 did not admit of the grant of 933 a licence more comprehensive in character and quality than that previously held, "the status quo was to be preserved, but not to be extended."