HC Deb 18 March 1918 vol 104 cc654-5
52. Mr. ANDERSON

asked the Prime Minister whether, despite the decreased output and consumption of liquor, the profits of the trade have increased for 1917 by £50,000,000; and what further action the Government propose to take?

Mr. BONAR LAW

I have no data which would enable me to estimate with any accuracy the net profits of the trade, and I can say nothing now in reference to the last part of the question.

Sir J. D. REES

If some profits were made in 1917, was it not the first of a long series of years in which the liquor trade made any profit at all?