§ 56. Mr. Dribergasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that a considerable number of dollars are at present frozen in this country in the form of credit cheques in the possession of German prisoners of war for work done in the United States; that a number of these prisoners remaining in Britain as civilian workers will be unable to cash these credit cheques, which are only cashable in Germany; that many of these men would prefer to cash these cheques in Britain and spend the money on unrationed consumer goods to send to their relatives in Germany, where the money will be, relatively, of less use to them; and if he will re-examine the question of cashing these cheques in sterling.
§ Mr. Glenvil HallI regret that I cannot adopt my hon. Friend's suggestion. These cheques are cashable in marks. If they were to be cashed in this country, we should only get marks in return, not dollars.
§ Mr. DribergWhy could not some arrangement be made? Would not these dollars—which the prisoners do not want—be very useful to us, and would my right hon. Friend particularly consider the position of the prisoners referred to in the second part of my Question, who will not be able to cash them at all for years to come?
§ Mr. Glenvil HallThere are considerable quantities of these cheques and we have not got the dollars. We just cannot afford to take marks in exchange.
§ Mr. DribergWould not this mean dollars for us?