§ * MR. E. KNATCHBULL-HUGESSEN (Rochester)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer why the interest to the Trustee Banks was reduced to £2 15s. from the 20th of November last, whilst the interest to the Post Office remains as before?
§ * MR. GOSCHENThe case of the Trustee Banks is different from that of the Post Office Banks. The financial year of the Trustee Banks ends in November, and I was not prepared last November to face the necessity of paying £2 15s. to depositors in the Trustee Banks when for the greater part of the year the stocks held by the National Debt Commissioners would only yield £2 15s., thus leaving no margin. The position of the Post Office Banks was a different one, and, in view of the large operation which I bad before me in paying off £40,000,000 of debt, I was not prepared to run the risk of disturbing the financial resources at the disposal of the National Debt Commissioners by any change in the interest paid to depositors in these banks.