§ 10. Sir Leonard Lyleasked the President of the Board of Trade to what extent, that before any shop can be established in any district by an invalided ex-Service man or anyone else, he inquires from the local retail licensing committee as to whether they approve such application or not; how many such applications have been rejected by the local licensing committee; in how many cases he has overridden the decisions of such committee; and whether this principle of a closed shop district applies to all areas in the country.
§ Mr. DaltonAll applications for licences under the Location of Retail Businesses Order, which applies to the whole country, 9 are dealt with by the local licensing committees. Between 1st January, 1942, when the Order came into force, and 31st March, 1944, 35,425 applications were made and 15,557 were granted. The number of cases in which I have found it necessary to reverse the decisions of the local committees is very small indeed.
§ Sir L. LyleCould the right hon. Gentleman possibly give specially favourable consideration to invalided ex-Servicemen?
§ Mr. DaltonYes, Sir. Some time ago, as the House has been informed, I sent special instructions to these Committees to do so.