§ Major OWENasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what was the consumption of beer in barrels of standard gravity for the year 1931–32; and what was the corresponding consumption in 1913–14?
§ Major ELLIOTIt is not possible to give strictly comparable figures since the statistics available for 1913–14 relate to Great Britain and the whole of Ireland while the statistics for 1931–32 relate to Great Britain and Northern Ireland only Subject to this qualification the approximate number of barrels of beer of a standard gravity of 1055° retained for consumption was in 1931–32 16,611,000 standard barrels and in 1913–14 35,446,000 standard barrels.