§ MR. WODEHOUSE (Bath)asked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether, in view of the success of his Conversion Scheme, and having regard to the fact that the interest paid to the depositors in the Post Office Savings Banks added to the expenses of management makes the cost to the country more 571 than £3 per cent, it is his intention to introduce a Bill reducing the rate of interest now paid to depositors in these banks?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GOSCHEN) (St. George's, Hanover Square)The Question assumes that the cost to the country of the deposits in Post Office Savings Banks is more than £3 per cent, including the expenses of management. But this is not so. The expenses of management are 11s. 5d. per cent; the interest paid to the depositors is at the average rate of £2 7s. 5d. per cent; so that the total cost to the country is £2 18s. 10d. per cent. The National Debt Commissioners will still be receiving, for another year, interest at the rate of 3 per cent on the depositors' money which they have invested in, Consols and Reduced Three per Cent Stock, though future investments must, of course, be at the lower rate of interest. I do not, therefore, propose to introduce in the present Session a Bill affecting the interest paid to depositors, though, no doubt, some such step must be taken before long.