HC Deb 02 May 1901 vol 93 cc411-2
MR. CHANNING (Northamptonshire, E.)

I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is now in a position to state to the House in regard to the preferential allotment of £30,000,000 of the new loan, to what financial firms or syndicates, and in what amounts, allotment has been made; and what has been the amount applied for and allotted to firms and individuals in the United States, Germany, and elsewhere outside the United Kingdom; and in regard to the remaining half of the loan, whether the whole has been applied for and allotted within the United Kingdom, or any part of it allotted to American or other foreign subscribers. Whether there have been applications from and allotments to firms or individuals in British colonies, and to what amounts, and what has been the number of applicants; and whether the allotment has been made, as in the case of the earlier war loan, so as to favour and encourage the smaller subscribers.

SIR M. HICKS BEACH

The £30,000,000 of Consols, which it was stated in the prospectus had been already placed, were allotted as follows:—

£11,000,000 to Messrs. N. M. Rothschild and Sons.
£10,000,000 to Messrs. J. S. Morgan and Co.
£9,000,000 to Bank of England.
£30,000,000

Of any sub-allotments I know nothing except that the Bank of England have disposed of the equivalent of £500,000 sterling of their own allotment to the Secretary of State for India, and of £2,000,000 to the Commissioners for the reduction of the National Debt. As regards the remaining half of the issue, the whole has been applied for and allotted, but it is impossible to give particulars of the allotments in the form asked, as applications from the colonies and from America were necessarily made through agents in London, who were under no obligation to state on whose behalf they applied. The same may be said of the great majority of applications from the Continent. Applications for small amounts were favourably treated.

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL

I suppose we may conclude that the Bank of South Africa obtained none at all?