§ Mr. GIBSON BOWLESasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he could explain why he proposed to make a Return of the National Debt under the heading of Dead Weight Debt, other Capital Liabilities, and Gross Liabilities of the State, giving that debt as it stood on 1st April of each year at the beginning of the financial year, instead of giving it, as in the National Debt Return long annually issued, as it stood on 31st March or at the close of each financial year; could he say what advantage or extra information was derived from making the Return applicable to one day later than had been the usual practice; and would he explain whether he proposed in the statement of the aggregate gross liabilities of the State, to include or to exclude the sum, amounting to over £25,000,000 representing the State liability to the depositors in the Post Office and Trustee Savings Banks and friendly societies arising from the deficiency of their assets as compared with their liabilities?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe object of the Special Return referred to is to show the amount of each variety of debt and the total at the beginning of each financial year, the increase or decrease in each year, and how such increase or decrease arose. For the purposes of the general National Debt Return it is more convenient to give the figures as at the end of each year. The figures at the beginning of any financial year are, of course, the same as those at the end of the preceding financial year, and the first column of the Return 25 first referred to adds nothing to the information contained in the other Return. The only object in inserting it is to bring that information into relation with the other particulars proposed to be given in the Return. It is proposed that the scope of the Return should be the same as that of the similar Returns laid since the year 1908, and that it should not include contingent liabilities either in respect of savings banks' deposits or in respect of guaranteed loans which are not given in either Return.