§ MR. ELLIS GRIFFITH (Anglesey)On behalf of the hon. Member for Mid-Glamorgan (Mr. SAMUEL EVANS), I beg 1694 to ask the President of the Local Government Board what is the total amount the Public Works Loan Commissioners are authorised to lend to local authorities; what is the total amount such Commissioners are authorised to lend to local authorities in the county of Glamorgan; what is the total amount such Commissioners are authorised to lend to the County Council of the county of Glamorgan; and what is the total amount which the Commissioners have already advanced or lent to local authorities in the county of Glamorgan?
§ MR. HANBURYThe sum named in this year's Public Works Loans Bill to be issued to the Public Works Loan Board for the purpose of making local loans is £1,500,000. The persons to whom loans may be made are not always local authorities in the sense of the hon. Member's question. The present Bill, for instance, takes power to lend for the construction or improvement of canals. There is no apportioned limit to the Public Works Loan Board's power of lending to any particular local authority. The amount depends, amongst other things, on the local authorities' powers of borrowing. The Board keep no record of the amounts advanced to each individual county. To select the amounts advanced to local authorities in the county of Glamorgan would entail considerable labour, and perhaps, in view of what I have said above, the hon. Member will not press his request.