§ MR. BELL (Derby)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state how many public houses and other properties licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquors are owned by the Church of England or the Ecclesiastical Commissioners; how many are leased to brewery companies; and how 237 many to individual tenants, and the annual amount of rent.
§ THE SECRETAEY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. AKERS-DOUGLAS,) Kent, St. Augustine'sThe information desired by the hon. Member is not available, and I have no means of making an inquiry respecting the property of benefices and other ecclesiastical corporations. But I may refer the hon. Member to Returns on the subject made to the House of Lords in 1883 and the House of Commons in 1901, showing that as regards their own estates it is the policy of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to reduce the number of licensed houses thereon as far as practicable.