§ Sir JOHN JARDINEasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether any order has been passed by the military authority at Aldershot increasing or reducing the hours during which the sale of intoxicating drinks on licensed premises has been prohibited in the borough of Godalming, the borough of Guildford, and the Guildford division by order of the justices of the peace lawfully exercising jurisdiction so to do in those three areas, respectively; and whether any such order of the military authority has been sanctioned by the War Office?
§ Mr. TENNANTThe order in force under the Defence of the Realm Regulations makes the hours of closing in the Aldershot area from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. This order was dated 27th January, 1915. Previously the public-houses had also been closed from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., but this was no longer considered necessary from a military point of view. I understand that the licensing justices' order in the Guildford division covers the same hours as the order under the Defence of the Realm Regulations; that in the borough of Guildford the justices' order covers the hours from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.; and that in the borough of Godalming an order of the licensing justices closing the public-houses from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. is still in force. The order issued by the competent military authority was quite within his competence, and reference was not made to the War Office.