§ MR. CHARLES ROBERTS (Lincoln)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if he can now state the total number of electoral districts in New Zealand in which compulsory local option polls were held at the recent elections in that Dominion; the number and, if possible, the names, of the electoral districts in which no licence was carried at these elections; and the number of districts where a reduction of licences was secured; and whether, in any of the six electoral districts where no-licence was previously in existence, that policy has been reversed in the recent elections.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Colonel SEELY,) Liverpool, AbercrombyThe number of districts in which local option polls were held at the recent election in New Zealand was sixty-eight, in fifteen the licence was carried, but the Secretary of State has not information as to the names of those districts; in eight a reduction of licences was secured, and the policy of no-licence was confirmed in all the six districts where no licence was previously in existence by increased majorities in all save one case, while six additional districts declared for no-licence, making twelve total prohibition districts.