§ MR. BRYCEI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the apprehensions which exist in Scotland as to the construction which may be put upon the definition of the term "loan capital," in Section 8, Sub-section 5, of the Finance 1045 Act of this year; whether, to remove such apprehensions, he can state that the Act was not designed to and does not impose the duty of 2s. 6d. percent. on money borrowed otherwise than by way of an addition to capital or debenture stock, and in particular that it will not be leviable on deposits with, or loans to, bankers, or financial or trading companies, or private firms, of more than two persons fixed for longer than twelve months; and whether, if he should find that the apprehensions referred to continue and are widely felt, he will consider the propriety in the next Finance Act of revising and limiting the definition of the term "loan capital" in the Act of this session.
§ SIR M. HICKS-BEACHI understand from communications which I have received from the right hon. Gentleman that some of his constituents entertain apprehensions on this point. I am advised that Section 8 of the Finance Act, 1899, will not affect the ordinary transactions of loans to bankers, financial or trading companies, or private firms, upon deposit, even although the period of the loan is fixed for longer than twelve months. Such a transaction would not, I am advised, constitute an "issue of loan capital." I have no reason to think that the apprehensions referred to are widely felt, and as they appear to me to be groundless, I see no reason for amending the law.