HC Deb 21 September 1915 vol 74 cc339-40W
Mr. DELANY

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to the report of a case heard at the last Petty Sessions at Ballacolla, Queen's County, in which two publicans were prosecuted for selling milk on Sunday; whether it was proved that the practice has been carried on without objection on the part of the police for a period varying from fifty to fifty-eight years; that no suggestion whatever of the illegal sale of drink was made; that the resident magistrate who presided commented adversely on the Statute under which the prosecution was brought; and, seeing that the defendants in question are the only registered vendors of milk in the district and that the public, amongst whom are women and children dependants of men serving at the front, will suffer inconvenience by being deprived of new milk on Sundays, will he take steps to prevent further enforcement of this obsolete law pending its repeal?

Mr. BIRRELL

My attention has been drawn to the cases referred to in which two publicans were prosecuted, under Section 2 of the Intoxicating Liquors (Ireland) Act, 1908, for selling milk on their licensed premises on Sunday, the part of the premises in which the sale took place not being structually separated from the remainder of the building. I understand that this is the first occasion on which proceedings were instituted under the Section against the persons in question, who are the only registered vendors of milk in the locality, and that no suggestion of the illegal sale of intoxicants was made by the prosecution. The salutary character of the Statute is, however, so obvious that I am not prepared to take any steps to interfere with its enforcement. I am not aware that the resident magistrate said anything more than that the Statute which was necessary in the case of evilly-disposed persons was sometimes a hardship to those whose intentions were good, and I am, moreover, informed that he suggested to the defendants several ways in which the sale of milk on Sundays could be carried on by them without infringement of the Statute.