MR. HERBERT ROBERTS (Denbighshire, W.)I beg to ask the hon. Member for East Bristol, as Church Estates Commissioner, how many of the 336 public-houses which were in 1905 on the estates of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have been leased from the Commissioners since 1889, and in how many cases the lease will expire within the next five years.
§ MR. CHARLES HOBHOUSE (Bristol, E.)Of the 336 public-houses on the Commissioners' Estates in 1905 the number hold on leases or tenancies for terms commencing since 31st December, 1889 was sixty-six, but in sixty-four of these cases the terms were renewals or extensions of terms created before that date. The two original leases for terms commencing within the time specified are both of premises in newly developed neighbourhoods, and in one case (a colliery district), the lease has been granted to a Trust Association on Earl Grey's trust principles. The number of yearly or short tenancies was twenty-eight and the number of leases for terms expiring on or before Christmas 1910 was twenty. Of these last twelve have been or will be suppressed on the expiration of the terms for which they are at present held as public-houses.