§ MR. CORBETT (Glasgow, Tradeston)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that much the greater part of the compensation under the Licensing Bill would go to brewery companies, and that a much smaller part would go to actual licencees; and, if so, if he can give the House an estimate of the proportions.
§ * THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. AKERS-DOUGLAS,) Kent, St. Augustine'sI am
† See (4) Debates, cxxxii., 235.536 quite unable to give my hon. friend any such estimate. I think the variety of circumstances and contracts under which licensed premises are held precludes the possibility of doing so. I can only say that even if the result is as my hon. friend prophecies, and appears to dread, it will afford no ground of quarrel with the principle on which this part of the Bill is based, viz., that the compensation shall be distributed between the persons, interested in licensed premises in accordance with the extent of their interests therein.