§ MR. LOUGHI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the fact that under the Money Lenders Act, 1900, a money lender is required to be registered under his own name or his usual trade name, and in no other name, and with the address, or all the addresses, at which he carries on his business of money lending, and not to carry on his business at any address in respect of which he is not registered, and that the Commissioners of Inland Revenue issue certificates of registration which do not state the addresses for which the money lender is registered, and sometimes with the surname only, so that the certificate is insufficient for identification, he will request the Commissioners of Inland Revenue to furnish to the Judges of the several County Courts Returns showing up to date as far as possible, the names, trade names and other aliases, together with all the addresses, of registered money lenders.
§ *THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. RITCHIE,) CroydonThe Commissioners of Inland Revenue do not grant certificates of registration under the Money Lenders Act, 1900. The form which they issue to a money lender who has applied for registration, and which is sometimes produced in Court as evidence thereof, is not a certificate of registration at all, but merely a formal acknowledgment of the receipt of the Return required by the regulations made under the Act. A certified copy of this Return duly stamped can be obtained for a charge of 2s. from the Head Office of Inland Revenue in London, Edinburgh or Dublin, as the case may be, and it is reasonable that a money lender desirous of proving in a Court of law that he has been duly registered, should do so by the production of such a certified copy. To furnish registrars of County Courts with the Returns suggested by the hon. Member would involve a good deal of trouble, and I do 326 not know that it would serve any sufficient purpose.