§ 51. Mr. Liddallasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in order to correct the recurring complaints about rates of interest payable by local authorities on authorised borrowings facilitated through the Public Works Loans Board, he will allow public authorities, at their option, to finance their authorised borrowings by such other methods as they may consider more advantageous than those rendered available by the Public Works Loans Board's facilities?
§ Sir J. SimonIn the exercise of their authorised borrowing powers, local authorities are not restricted to facilities made available to them by the Public Works Loan Board, since under the law other methods of borrowing are open to them. I recognise that some of those alternative methods may not always in practice be open to the smaller local authorities, but the facilities offered by the Public Works Loan Board were ex- 1246 pressly designed to meet such cases, and have definite advantages for the authorities concerned.