§ MR. SLOANI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he can state the number of prosecutions of holders of spirit grocers' licences in Belfast during the year ending 31st January, 1908, for selling for consumption on the premises, and the number of such cases in which it was successfully claimed that the liquor was given as a treat; and is he aware that certain magistrates are canvassed and make a practice of attending on court days when licensing prosecutions are heard who seldom or never adjudicate on other cases of prosecution.
§ MR. BIRRELLDuring the year ending 31st January, 1908, sixty-four prosecutions of the nature referred to were instituted in Belfast, and in twenty-one of these eases the defendant succesfully contended that the liquor was given as a treat. The police have no information to the effect stated in the concluding part of the Question.