§ 57. Mr. Stokesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that advertisements of the Equity and Law Life Assurance Society offer to purchase, on behalf of any subscriber of, approximately, £3 3s. monthly, £500 of 3 per cent. Savings Bonds; and whether lie will put an end to this method of artificially inflating the amounts subscribed to War Weapons Weeks?
§ Sir K. WoodI think that arrangements of this kind tend to encourage saving and that in general it would not be desirable to raise objection to them.
§ Mr. StokesIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that a life assurance company has recently stated that a War Weapons Week in a town the size of Ipswich would 1330 benefit to the tune of £100,000 in its total effort with a first subscription of only £600, and does it not give a really artificial picture if that sort of thing is allowed to go on?
§ Sir K. WoodI am not aware of the first statement made by the hon. Member, and I think he is under a misapprehension of the position, because the money from the insurance company is not borrowed from the bank, as I rather think my hon. Friend suggested.
§ Sir Frank SandersonIs not this merely a method of deferred saving and is not that in the interests of the country?