§ 42. Mr. Woodburnasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can indicate in what categories Treasury Bills are dis- 1575 tributed among individuals, groups, institutions, foreign or Colonial Governments.
§ Sir J. AndersonApart from those held by public departments and the Issue Department of the Bank of England, Treasury Bills are distributed mainly between the home banks, overseas banks and the discount market. Since the Bills are issued in bearer form and are subject to frequent changes of ownership, it is not possible to give figures for the different categories.
§ Mr. WoodburnCould the Chancellor explain how it is that in his Budget speech he said that banks did not hold Treasury Bills, if my recollection is correct, and why, according to this information, these Bills are held by the banks?
§ Sir J. AndersonWhat I said, or intended to say, in my Budget speech was that the Bills are not held in substantial quantity by the clearing banks.