§ MR. JAMES MACLEAN (Oldham)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if his attention has been called to the fact that it has been contemplated by Mr. A. Egmont Hake, Chairman of the Free Trade in Capital League, to introduce into Great Britain and Ireland a system of people's banks, based on that Shulze Delitzseh principle which has proved so beneficial to the working classes in Germany and Italy; the intention being to make use of a new medium of exchange to be called Cash Credit Certificates; and that the Bank of England, which has been approached on the subject, has intimated its intention to raise no objection to the new medium of exchange; and, whether Her Majesty's Government, having regard to the great advantages these new people's banks are expected to confer on the working classes of this country, will raise any objection to the use of the proposed Cash Credit Certificates if their tenor be simply "The People's Bank of grant you a Cash Credit of £," and if their circulation be strictly limited to the locality of the bank from, which: they are issued?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GOSCHEN, St. George's. Hanover Square)My attention had not been called to this subject until the hon. Member's question was put down, and it is much too vast to be dealt with offhand. The hon. Member's question is not quite correct in its reference to the Bank of England. The Bank has not "intimated its intention to raise no objection" to the issue of Cash Credit Certificates, but has simply said that, "while declining to commit itself" on the question, "it would not willingly place considerations of its own interest in the way of any proposal which was clearly shown to be for the public advantage." But, plainly, this is not merely a question between the promoters of the present scheme and the Bank. It vitally affects our whole system of paper currency, and cannot be decided without the most careful examination of its bearing on the security of that system.