HC Deb 10 May 1909 vol 4 cc1438-9
Mr. PATRICK WHITE

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why, if he only proposes to raise the minimum licence of the small country inn from £4 10s. to £5 per annum, he proposes to increase the retailer's off-licence, including spirits, beer, and wine, from £14 to £21; and whether he is aware that this large annual increase on off-licences will impose a burden upon country traders which they will be unable to bear, and who at present supply the needs of a scattered country population?

The HON. MEMBER

further asked the right hon. Gentleman:—(1) Whether he proposes to make any change in the amount of hotel licences which are used solely for the purpose of supplying bonâ fide visitors staying at the hotel, where no non-residents are supplied; where the trade done is incapable of expansion, being governed by the amount of bedroom accommodation in the hotel; and where already the profit on the quantity of exciseable liquor consumed hardly pays the present licence?

(2) Whether he will confine his proposed scheme of valuation for licensed houses to those which are exclusively used as drinking shops; whether, having regard to the fact that there is no analogy between the conditions which prevail in England and Ireland, in the latter country a general grocery and mixed trade being always associated with a licence, he will exclude Ireland from the scheme in his present proposals; and whether he will state what is the total revenue derived from all classes of licences in Ireland?

Whether, having regard to his promise to make special concessions to bonâ fide hotels, inns, and restaurants, where the proportion of alcoholic drink sold is small in comparison to other necessaries, he will extend this concession to holders of on- and off-licences in Ireland where, in the majority of licensed houses, a general trade is carried on, and where the licence is merely an auxiliary more for the convenience of customers than as a source of profit; and whether in such cases he will apply the same principles of licence reduction as to hotels?

Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE

The points raised by the hon. Member in these four questions are not such as can be dealt with in answers across the floor of the House. I may, however, state, in reply to the last portion of Question 56, that the total revenue from liquor licences in Ireland (excluding manufacturers' licences) in 1907–8 was £167,291.

Mr. PATRICK WHITE

Does that include off-licences?

Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE

I am not quite sure, but I should say so. "The total revenue for liquor licences," I think it must include all licences.