§ 55. Mr. WATTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the rate per cent, which it has cost the Treasury to get money under the War Savings Certificates; and how does this figure compare with the rate of commission and other expenses chargeable against War loans?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWIt is not possible to state in the form of a percentage the cost of raising money by the sale of War Savings Certificates. Thus, the expenses incurred by the Post Office in connection 1681 with the issue cannot be satisfactorily distinguished from general expenditure on Post Office services, and the expenditure of the War Savings Committees must be regarded as having many other purposes besides raising money. Generally speaking, however, I may say that while this method of raising money is naturally more expensive than the raising of a big war loan, the actual cost has been trifling in proportion to the success of the issue.