§ MR. MOOREI beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland if he is aware that, notwithstanding the present provisions of the Licensing Law requiring public-houses to close, in all but certain towns in Ireland, at 9 o'clock, chemists and druggists claim the right to sell medicated or other wines and Burgundies between nine and ten o'clock; and if he will take steps to stop this practice.
§ THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. CHERRY, Liverpool, Exchange)I am aware that a claim by chemists and druggists mentioned in the Question has been made, but the Government has been advised that it has no foundation in law. The police, however, have been instructed not to interfere when they find that the sale of medicated wines for the use of invalids is bona fide carried on as chemists' business, but where there is reason to believe that an ordinary wine business is being conducted and the regulations of the Licensing Acts merely evaded, prosecutions will be instituted.