§ MR CHANNING (Northamptonshire, E.)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he is aware of the application now being made under the German and Belgian Governments of savings banks deposits for the building of working class dwellings, and of the recent statement made by the Prussian Minister of the Interior, that by this, application the Prussian Government expect to effect a complete solution of the problem; whether he has any official information showing that the use of the savings banks deposits for such purposes, and the widening of the area of investments, have made it possible in these and other Foreign countries to give a higher rate of interest to depositors than in Great Britain; and whether he will arrange that evidence and returns on these points be laid before the Select Committee on Savings Banks Funds.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF the EXCHEQUER (Sir M. HICKS BEACH, Bristol, W.)I have seen statements of the kind alluded to in the first part of the Question, but I cannot vouch for their accuracy, and I think that the statement attributed to the Prussian Minister of the Interior must have been made more than a year ago. If the Committee should desire information on the matter, I understand that the Foreign Office would be prepared to furnish it. But I do not myself think that the Belgian system, for example, 1277 which includes ordinary commercial bills and promissory notes among the modes of investment of savings bank deposits, would be suitable for imitation here.