EXCHEQUER BONDS. (Hansard, 2 August 1916)

§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. McKinnon Wood)

I beg to move, "That the proviso to Section fifty-eight of the Finance Act, 1916, shall not apply to Exchequer Bonds issued on and after the second day of August, 451 nineteen hundred and sixteen, and before the fifth day of October, nineteen hundred and sixteen, where the date of repayment of the Bonds is expressed to the fifth day of October, nineteen hundred and twenty-one."

This is a very technical matter, but not: a very large matter. By Section 58 of this year's Finance Act power was taken to issue Exchequer Bonds provided that any securities issued under this Section shall be repaid or redeemed not later than five years after the date on which they are issued. These Bonds, which are repayable on 5th October, 1921, are at present being issued under the powers of the War Loan Act, 1915. Hitherto they have been issued under that Act, but we are nearing the time when the borrowing powers under that Act will be exhausted and we may have a period during which there would be a technical difficulty with regard to the interest for a few weeks. The maximum period is two months between the five years after the passing of that Act and the 5th October, 1921. To remove any difficulty as to the issue of the Bonds referred to, which may under the Act fall due between August and the beginning of October—it may be a question of a few days or a few weeks—it has been thought desirable to put the matter out of any doubt or difficulty at once by amending that Section. The advantage of the Resolution is that we do not need to issue a new series of Bonds, but that we can issue the old series of Bonds, which, I am sure, hon. Members will appreciate is an advantage on the market.