§ MR. CARLILE (Hertfordshire, St. Albans)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the disappointment felt by small investors in connection with allotments made recently of Irish Land Stock, he will when issuing future Government loans adopt some such method as the following, viz., to issue the prospectus to the public twenty-four hours before subscriptions are received; make the application money £15 per centum; promptly close the list of subscriptions for town (the country applications to have twelve hours longer) as soon as the loan is covered a few times; allow only one application from the same address; and give prior allotment to all applicants undertaking to pay up in full on the understanding that the stock allotted to them is not to be transferable or certificates to bearer obtained until the final call has been paid upon the partly-paid stock, the bank to issue letters of allotment in two colours, thus differentiating between fully paid and partly-paid stock.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEI am obliged to the hon. Member for his suggestions, 1511 which shall be borne in mind. Some of them could not, I fear, be adopted without risk of interfering with the success of a loan, and others would impose conditions which could easily be evaded. But I will consider the matter further.