§ MR. CLELANDTo ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether a settlement has been arrived at in connection with the recent irregularities in distilleries in Ireland; and in how many cases the Board of Inland Revenue and the Board of Customs, respectively, have during the past twenty years imposed fines of £50 or over on the sureties for bonded warehouses or distilleries for irregularities discovered thereat; and what were the amounts of the penalties imposed.
(Answered by Mr. Asquith.) The case arising out of the recent irregularities at Tullamore is not yet settled. Neither of the Revenue Boards has any record of the imposition of a fine of £50 or over on the sureties for a bonded warehouse during the period stated. It is not the practice to require sureties for a distillery to which no warehouse is attached.