DORMANT BANK BALANCES AND UNCLAIMED SECURITIES. (Hansard, 23 May 1911)

§ Mr. BOTTOMLEY
I beg to ask for leave to introduce a Bill "to provide for the periodical Return of all Dormant Balances and Unclaimed Securities in the hands of Bankers, and for the handing over of the same to the Public Trustee."
The apology which I offer to the House for asking leave to introduce this Bill is the same as that which I offered on a previous occasion—namely, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is looking out for money, and I submit that this Bill provides a new source of revenue. The case for this Bill is unanswerable. The magnitude of these Funds has not been fully realised. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is looking for hen-roosts, and I ask him to come down with me into the vaults and cellars of the various banks and rummage amongst the ledgers and other things 151 concealed there, and I pledge myself to discover for him a series of roosts full not only of golden eggs but eggs of precious stones. My Bill is based upon this theory: The United Kingdom having been the home of banking for many years, it follows that in the long series of years since banking was instituted there has accumulated an enormous hoard of balances of dormant accounts and an enormous quantity of unclaimed securities, in reference to which there is a vast amount of money in their hands in respect of bank notes which have never been presented, and in all human probability will not be presented. People die intestate, men go out to war and lose their lives, testators do not give particulars where their money is left, depositors become forgetful and neglect particulars of their accounts, and it is quite impossible to estimate with any degree of accuracy the amount of these funds. A member of the Bankers' Institute has estimated them at something between £11,000,000 and £12,000,000, but I have estimated them at a great deal more. I know it is very difficult to get at the actual amount. When the Glasgow Bank failed the sum of £40,000 was unexpectedly discovered as unclaimed dormant balances, and there have been other discoveries of this kind since.
One may read in the newspapers every day that committees organising Coronation funds and other festivities find there are still considerable dormant balances in the hands of various bankers in connection with the Coronation of King Edward VII. Local authorities are constantly discovering dormant balances in regard to old accounts. I could mention cases of private banks, on being taken over by joint stock banks where they have expressly excluded from the transfer vast sums admittedly in their hands, amounting to some millions, in respect of dormant balances and unclaimed securities, and those securities remain in their hands to-day. There are a great many of these cases. Within recent years we have experienced the loss of two submarines. The officers have stated on oath that, to their knowledge, their sons who lost their lives had sums of money in the bank to their credit, and no banker will enlighten them as to whether they possess those sums to their credit. I know of one case where there is a sum of £28,000 in a well-known joint-stock bank, the name of which I am prepared to give. A man used to come every year, draw out the whole £28,000, count it, 152 examine it, and, being assured of its safety, pay it back again, and leave the bank. The person to whom it belongs has not been heard of for a great many years. There was an old lady with £9,000 in her possession, who was ultimately taken to the asylum, and she said that she had many thousands in various banks, the names of which she could not remember.
I have obtained a return of the sums in the hands of some of the Colonial Governments who have anticipated the Mother country in this matter by requiring such dormant balances to be returned. It is said that there is not much in this question. May I remind the House that the last volume issued by the Dominion Government of Canada of unclaimed balances contains 800 pages, and although I cannot give the exact amount, there are thousands and thousands of cases in which people have balances standing to their credit. If we compare Canada with a country like England it is not difficult to imagine that an immense sum is involved. New Zealand has £16,000 in hand, South Australia £14,000, and the Cape of Good Hope has a few thousand pounds; and even the Transvaal, the Orange River Colony, the East African Protectorate, and Nyassaland have various sums which have accumulated in this way. I ask the House just for one moment to reflect with me how it is that our banking institutions can be constantly erecting these palatial buildings and maintaining such enormous and expensive staffs if it is not done out of the profits obtained otherwise than by legitimate banking. It is notorious that there are secret reserves in the accounts of all our bankers, and they hide from public view these immense sums to which they have no legal claim.
One hon. Member of this House has told me that after being defeated at an election he went to the constituency which he originally represented ten years ago. He went to open an election account, and he found that over £100 was still standing to his credit in reference to the previous election. Another right hon. Gentleman came to me a day or two ago and said, "My dear Bottomley, I shall vote for your Bill because you have enabled me to discover a considerable sum which stood to my credit. "It is not only dormant balances which my Bill contemplates, but also unclaimed securities. There are in the possession of hankers enormous quantities of securities of various kinds to which they have no legal title. There are boxes containing wonderful collections of valuable 153 jewels and other things. Ask Messrs. Coutts and Co. what happened when they were removing some of these boxes recently to their new premises. It is not only unclaimed securities I want to deal with, but also unpaid bank-notes. Every year the Bank of England appropriates to its own use some £11,000 in respect of bank-notes forty years old and upwards. It is a monstrous thing that they should be allowed to take such sums as £11,000 a year in that way. The Chancellor of the Exchequer may turn up his nose at £11,000, but that sum will feed a good many poor people. Why do we not take these securities and balances. Why is the Chancellor of the Exchequer so easily misled in this matter? He said that he had consulted the bankers, and he had found that there was not much in it. I am thinking of designing another stained-glass window representing the Soul of Candour divulging the truth to the Spirit of Simplicity. The idea is a policeman leading a burglar in the middle of the night, with a bag on his shoulder, and taking his word as to what it contains. I do not know why the Chancellor of the Exchequer does not take this up. He seems to think he must keep friendly with the bankers or the whole credit of the country will be gone, whereas there is not a loan which this country could not take up without the bankers. There is one thing to which this Bill does not apply. It does not apply to dormant overdrafts. I mention that because a Noble Lord told me the other day that an Amendment might be introduced to that effect, and that was his only interest in the measure. This Bill has been brought before the House on a good many occasions, and whenever there have been divisions Members of all parties have voted for it, Members on both Front Benches, and I am glad to say they included the present President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Buxton). I hope ho will use his influence with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to get some inquiry into this matter. Last April the Prime Minister promised me—

§ Mr. SPEAKER
The hon. Member has almost overdrawn his balance on the time of the House.

§ Mr. BOTTOMLEY
I thought I had a little in hand, but you, Sir, have a better view of the clock than I have. Last Session the Prime Minister promised that if he was satisfied it was the general desire of Members of this House he would consider the appointment of a Committee. I 154 obtained just over 300 signatures before the General Election, and in the hope that the Prime Minister still entertains that idea, I beg to move.