§ MR. MYERI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will state what is the present position of the terminable annuities held by the National Debt Commissioners on behalf of the Post Office Savings Bank; whether there is a surplus or a deficiency on the capital replacement account; what is the amount, if any, of that surplus or deficiency; whether there is or is not a deficiency in the stock replacement account relating to the savings bank annuities of £773,637, expiring in 1924–5, created to replace £15,000,000 of stock cancelled belonging to those banks; and whether the Trustee Savings Banks Deficiency Annuity of £83,672 12s. created in 1880, and originally constituted to expire in 1908, but extended to 1917, is or is not at the present time short of the amount actuarially determined to be necessary to secure the full replacement of the deficiency at the postponed date of expiration.
§ MR. ASQUITHThe terminable annuities held for the Post Office Savings Banks Fund are of two kinds—first, those which have been created to replace a 356 certain amount of stock; and, secondly, those which have been created to replace a certain amount of cash When the annuity is for replacement of stock, the law provides for the periodical adjustment of its amount on the basis of a valuation, so as to ensure that at the end of its currency the annuity shall have replaced exactly the amount of stock required. When the annuity is for replacement of cash, its amount is calculated once for all so as to replace that amount of cash within a stated period with interest at a fixed rate. In neither case, therefore, can any question arise of ultimate surplus or deficiency on the operation of these annuities. The Post Office Savings Bank annuity in replacement of £15,000,000 stock was last adjusted in 1903, and will be due for further adjustment next year. The Trustee Savings Banks deficiency annuity, as reconstituted by the Savings Banks Act, 1904, is not charged with the replacement of a definite amount of stock or of cash. It is a fixed annual payment of £83,672 12s. from the Consolidated Fund to the capital account of the Trustee Savings Banks Fund, which is to continue until May, 1917.