§ MR. MACKARNESSI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is in a position to state to what extent the amount of compensation money payable to the holders of licences suppressed under the new Licensing Bill will be increased as compared with the amount they have hitherto received under The Licensing Act, 1904.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF the EXCHEQUER (Mr. ASQUITH,) Fifeshire, E.Hitherto the licence-holder's interest in the premises has not been calculated separately in arriving at the total compensation money payable. When the value of the licence has been arrived at as provided by the Act of 1904, the compensation has been divided in such proportions as between the licence-holder and the other parties interested as the Compensation Authority thought fit. It appears that in 1907 the average payment to a licence-holder was between £90 and £100 out of an average payment from the Compensation Funds of £921 per licence. The actual payments to the licence-holders varied very widely on either side of that average. Under the Bill, the compensation for the licence-holder is to be calculated separately from the compensation for the owners of the licensed premises, and is to be such sum as the Inland Revenue think just for "loss of business having 1593 regard to his conduct and the length of time during which he has been the holder of the licence." It is impossible to say definitely beforehand what sums will in any given case or even on the average be awarded, though they may certainly be expected to be considerably larger than the payments hitherto.