§ MR. BARNARDTo ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer how many 992 grocers' licences were in existence at the passing of the 1904 Act; how many of them remain; and how many new licences of this sort are in existence.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) There are no statistics of licences held by grocers as distinguished from those held by other shopkeepers who sell other goods besides liquor. Full information as to off-licences generally is given in the annual volume of licensing statistics. It appears that on the 1st January, 1905, the date on which the Licensing Act of 1904 came into operation, there were 25,405 off-licences in existences, of which 14,402 were held in respect of shops in which other goods besides liquor were sold. On the 1st January, 1907, the latest date for which exact figures are available, the number was 25,143, of which 14,024 related to shops in which other goods besides liquor were sold. The number of new off-licences granted in each of the years 1905, 1906, and 1907 were 192, 211, and 198, respectively. If the total of 403 for the two years 1905–6 is deducted from the above figure of 25,143, it would appear that there were on 1st January, 1907, some 24,740 off-licences which were in existence before the year 1905.