§ MR. CHARLES ROBERTS (Lincoln)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has observed that, by the Return relating to the licence transfers just issued, out of a total number of 6,960 on-licences in the petty sessional divisions of London, 1,637 such licences, or 23.5 per cent, of the total, were transferred during the year 1907, and that 160 cases occurred in these districts where such licences were transferred twice or more during the period; and whether the police have instructions to call the attention of licensing benches to cases where the frequency of transfer would suggest the inference that the licence is not required.
§ MR. GLADSTONEI am aware of the figures to which my hon. friend draws attention. I do not think any special instructions to the police in this matter are needed. All the facts as to frequency of transfers are in each case before the Justices, who are the authority to determine whether a licence is redundant, and who can draw their own inferences from them.