§ Mr. LYLEasked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to the fact that in some main thoroughfares in the Metropolitan area, owing to differentiation in the hours of closing, public-houses on the one side of the street are open while on the other they are closed; and whether he will consider the desirability of taking steps, by legislation or otherwise, to prevent such differences of treatment?
§ Mr. SHORTTAs long as there are different hours on the two sides of a boundary the condition indicated in the first paragraph of the question must inevitably arise; and it has existed ever since different hours were fixed by Parliament in 1872 for different districts in London and elsewhere. The problem has been complicated now by the different hours fixed by Justices in different licensing districts of the Metropolis; but it is too soon to say that the evil effects, if any, are such that Parliament ought to reconsider the provisions settled last year enabling the varying needs and wishes of different districts to be met in this way.