§ Commander Nobleasked the Minister of Transport in how many cases in the past year the rule that requisitioned ships should be dry ships has been relaxed; and whether this rule will now be abandoned so that there is equal treatment for all sea-going passengers from and to this country.
§ Mr. BarnesThe continuation of the ban on the sale of alcoholic liquor in requisitioned passenger ships, whether carrying troops or civilians, is dictated by the liquor supply position. This is kept under constant review with the object of removing the ban at the earliest date. The only cases in which the rule has been relaxed during the past year were the "Queen Mary," in which, owing to the large number of civilian passengers carried eastbound from New York to this country, the sale of alcoholic liquor was permitted on her last few eastbound voyages prior to release from Government service; and the "Aquitania" on her recent westbound voyage to U.S.A. when she carried a large number of foreign delegates to the Council of Foreign Ministers.