§ Mr. HAZLETON (for Mr. Kettle)asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any record is available of the interchange of beer and foreign duty-paid spirits between Ireland and Great Britain; and, if not, how is the annual contribution of Ireland to the total revenue of the United Kingdom calculated as regards Customs and Excise?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe total quantity of foreign spirits removed from Great Britain to Ireland, and vice versâ, after payment of duty is recorded, and the quantity so removed in the years 1906, 1907 and 1908 is included in the totals given in reply to a question of the hon. Member for North Meath on the 10th instant, of spirits imported into, and exported from, Ireland, The quantity of each kind of foreign spirit so removed is not recorded separately. No record is kept of the quantity of beer interchanged, but the consumption in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland respectively, is estimated, as explained in the Annual Parliamentary Return of Revenue and Expenditure, England, Scotland and Ireland (House of Commons Paper 216 of 1908), as regards beer made in the United Kingdom on the basis of transit statistics obtained in the year 1903–4, and as regards foreign beer on the basis of the respective populations.