§ What, then, are the lines for financial progress which this Government, and a majority in this House, are bound by their pledges and by their convictions to pursue? First and foremost, we are under an immediate obligation, often insisted upon when we sat upon the other side in the last Parliament, and reiterated certainly by me over and over again at the general election after I had assumed the office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer—an immediate obligation of reinstating and improving the national credit. I am bound to say that there is no subject upon which more exaggerated and sometimes more nonsensical language has been used. Consols, like all other so-called gilt-edged securities, have been at a low level of price during the last six months. They once nearly touched eighty-four. Immediately we had an outcry. Some of the more irresponsible among the mischief mongers of the Press declared that the credit of this country was gone—gone because we had a Liberal Government in power dragged by a Socialist tail. Even a grave and seasoned economist like the hon. and gallant Member for Central Sheffield began to 1187 show signs of perturbation. People for-forget the simple and surely indisputable arithmetical fact that a 2½ per cent. Stock at 83, which we have not yet touched, is equivalent to a 3 per cent. stock at 100. They forget further, or perhaps they have never learned the equally indisputable historical fact that our 3 per cent. Consols, the admitted premier security of the world, during the whole course of their long history never remained at or above 100 for a whole year. It is quite true that during the intermediate period after conversion, when Consols were a 2¾ per cent. stock, they rose for some years to a high premium, even as high as 114. How was that? That was at a time when, owing, among other causes, to the relative slackness of trade and to the rapid development of the new source of gold supply in South Africa, the value of money ruled very low, and a secure 2¾ per cent. stock was, what it is not to-day, a very tempting investment. That was a state of things that could not have lasted long, even if the war had not occurred. But there has been a serious fall, and one which has affected all the better class of securities. I think I ought to take this opportunity of giving what I conceive to be the explanation. It is not far to seek, and it has nothing whatever to do, I venture to submit, with the misdoings, actual or imagined, of His Majesty's present advisors. We have seen in recent years enormous additions, due not only to the war, but also to other causes, to the liabilities both of the State and of the municipalities; the admission of colonial stocks to the extent of something like £300,000,000 sterling to the category of trust investments; abnormal activity leading to higher; wages and higher prices in almost every form of business both at home and abroad; catastrophes in North and South America which have brought about a considerable destruction of insured property, much of which had to be replaced by the realisation of gilt-edged securities; and gigantic speculations in shares and the issue of new obligations which have been going on upon the other side of the Atlantic. Take all these causes into account, following as they have done an exceptional drain upon the whole fabrics of currency and of credit, and operating as they were bound to do with converg- 1188 ing force here in London, which is the only free and open market for gold, and you have more than sufficient reason to account for the low level of price in the best class of security. These patriotic gentlemen to whom I referred a few moments ago might, I think, find some better occupation both for their tongues and their pens than trying to disparage and belittle the credit of their country, which still, when all is said and done, remains better and higher than that of any other country in the world. But the fact remains that the existing condition of things, which is largely the result, as I have said, of the unliquidated commitments of recent years, is for the time being a source of embarrassment, not to the Government alone. Happily, there is no question of the Government's, as a Government, having to go into the market to add to the debt for which we are directly liable. Take, however, the case of Irish land security, which is guaranteed by the British Government. Fresh issues of that stock must from time to time be made to keep the operation of purchase going, and the whole loss upon the flotation of that stock which must arise in the present state of the market falls upon the Irish Development Grant, which, if my memory is right, was originally intended to serve the purpose of Irish education. It is a mistake to suppose that this is a matter which only affects the City, what is called the "high finance." It affects every community and every class in the country. Look at the position, of our great municipalities. From the London County Council downwards they can raise capital only upon terms which, as compared with those of ten years ago, are grievously burdensome to the ratepayers, with the result that in every direction their activity is being crippled. You may think, if you like, that some forms of their activity are misguided, but there are some, at any rate, innocuous, and others absolutely essential to the well-being of the community. What is true of them is true, in varying degrees of inconvenience and of severity, of almost every trading concern in the country. Taking these facts into view, I have no hesitation in drawing the conclusion that a substantial and exceptional effort to effect a further reduction in the Debt is, for the moment, one of the paramount duties of the Government.