HC Deb 07 July 1959 vol 608 cc1296-7

6. In subsection (4) of section one hundred and eleven, for the words from "satisfies the licensing court" to the end of the subsection there shall be substituted the words "produces to the licensing court a statement by the Commissioners certifying that in their opinion the receipts from the sale of exciseable liquor in the preceding year were less, in the case of a restaurant, than three-fifths or, in the case of a hotel, than one-half of the total receipts in that year from the business of all descriptions carried on at the premises for which such certificate is held, being business carried on in that year by or on behalf of a person holding a certificate in respect of those premises".

7. After subsection (4) of section one hundred and eleven there shall be inserted the following subsection:— (5) In calculating receipts for the purposes of the last foregoing subsection, the year shall be the twelve months ending on the thirty-first day of December or such other day as the Commissioners may fix for any area or to meet the circumstances of a particular case or cases".

This is a purely technical Amendment. Its effect is to provide that the consequential Amendment of the Temperance (Scotland) Act, 1913, effected by Clause 2 (6) and the Second Schedule of the Bill, will continue to apply after the Scottish licensing law has been consolidated in the Licensing (Scotland) Bill.

Mr. H. Wilson

In view of the late hour, I will not press for what obviously any Opposition would have the right to press—the presence of the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Lord Advocate.

Mr. George Brown (Belper)

Do not fetch them.

Mr. Wilson

It is unheard of an Amendment of this degree of complexity to be moved at this stage of the Finance Bill without having the full legal support of the Minister in question. I will not embarrass the Economic Secretary by asking him what this Amendment means, because I know that he does not know either. It would not be fair to ask the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, because he is an English lawyer and this raises questions of Scottish law.

I will do my best to hold down my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr. Mitchison), but since this is the last Amendment on this year's Finance Bill, and since the Treasury team opposite will not be here to have anything to do with next year's Finance Bill, I cannot ask for any assurance about this. With that warning, I think that we can let the Amendment go.

Amendment agreed to.

Bill to be read the Third time this day and to be printed. [Bill 131.]