§ Even taxation of the great weight which we have imposed upon ourselves has left us with a very formidable borrowing programme. From the beginning of the war to the end of March we have borrowed no less than £8,667,000,000. We have been able to borrow those large sums at low 947 rates of interest and on gradually improving terms, and we have carried this process still further in the past financial year. This has been due to two main factors; first, the controls which have reserved the capital market primarily for war purposes, and, secondly, the variety of the sources which we have tapped for subscriptions to Government issues. Subscriptions to small savings, after allowing for repayments, accounted for 21 per cent. of our total borrowings, and those from non-Government sources to our longer term loans, for 34 per cent. Those are two important planks in our borrowing programme, and we must continue our efforts to strengthen them. The balance of our borrowings has been covered as to 10 per cent. by Treasury bills issued to the market and banks, as to 11 per cent. by Treasury deposit receipts from the banks, as to 5 per cent. by Tax Reserve Certificates, and as to 19 per cent. from extra-Budgetary State funds and various other sources, such as overseas borrowings and interest-free loans.
§ Shortly before the close of the financial year, the total sum raised during the War Savings Campaign by small savings, longer market issues, gifts and loans free of interest, amounted to the magnificent sum of £5,000,000,000, a land mark in the history of the war, and the total on 31st March was £5,320,000,000. I should, however, like to call special attention to the total of the subscriptions to small savings which, on 31st March, was £1,968,000,000, and which was made up of millions of small loans. Savings Certificates brought in £756,000,000, Defence Bonds £555,000,000, and the Post Office and Trustee Savings Banks £657,000,000. Very largely the same army of regular savers now own Income Tax post-war credits amounting, for the two years 1941 and 1942, to some £300,000,000. They deserve well of their country, and they will be a strong and stabilising force after the war. We must go on increasing the number of the small savers, for we shall have largely to depend upon the small man for our future savings, to which in turn we shall have to look for assistance in our capital commitments after the war. Perhaps I may add here that I shall ask the House this week to pass the usual annual Bill giving the 948 Treasury the borrowing powers necessary to cover our expenditure in 1943–44 on the same lines as in previous years.