§ Major STEELasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will consider the extension of the closing hour for the public-houses in the neighbourhood of Ashford from 8 p.m. to 9.30 p.m., to bring the closing hour into line with the public-houses in the surrounding districts, seeing that the public-houses in this area were ordered to be closed at an earlier hour than those in neighbouring areas because of the number of troops billeted within the district during the War and that the larger portion of these troops have now left?
§ Mr. JAMES HOPEThe question of allowing an extension of the evening closing hour shall be considered, but I am informed that the present closing hour for the neighbouring area is 9 p.m. and not 9.30 p.m. as stated in the question.
§ Mr. R. McNEILLasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Munitions, as representing the Central Control Board (Liquor Traffic), if he is aware that at the instance of the naval and military authorities in the Shorncliffe area the closing time for that area was fixed during the War an hour earlier than for the rest of the county of Kent; whether he is aware that now, when the fighting has ceased, no objection is raised by the naval and military authorities or by the civil police in the districts concerned to removing this inequality between the Shorncliffe area and the rest of Kent; and whether he will accordingly extend the hour of closing in the Shorncliffe area from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.?
§ Mr. HOPEThe answer to the first paragraph of the question is in the affirmative. The Central Control Board is considering the question of the extension of the closing hour.