§ MR. WEDGWOODI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the statement of the Chief Constable of Liverpool, given in Cd. 3813, that the action of the Liverpool Licensing Bench in discountenancing the presence 522 of children in public houses is responsible for the fact that the children observed to be taken into public houses in Liverpool amounted to only 1.25 per public house per hour against 9.12 in London; and whether the same method of checking this evil can be recommended by the Home Office to other licensing benches.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. HERBERT SAMUEL,) Yorkshire, ClevelandThe Secretary of State does not find that the Chief-Constable of Liverpool committed himself to so definite a statement as my hon. friend attributes to him; but there can be no doubt that the views of a licensing authority on the question of the admission of women and children into public houses must have a strong influence on the license-holders within their district. The Secretary of State has no power to advise licensing authorities in this matter; but he is sure that they must all be fully alive to a question which is so much in the public mind at the moment, and which will be dealt with in coming legislation.