§ 40. Mr. H. Hyndasked the President of the Board of Trade how many firms or societies to finance hire purchase have been registered since 1954.
§ The Minister of State, Board of Trade (Mr. J. K. Vaughan-Morgan)Companies engaged in financing hire purchase are not required to register separately, and any statistics collected from the registration of companies would not disclose which companies were engaged in this activity as their main business.
§ Mr. HyndIs the Minister keeping an eye on this development, which is nothing more or less than a dodge to get round the Government regulations about hire purchase?
§ Mr. Vaughan-MorganThe hon. Member should appreciate the difficulty in giving a statistical reply to his Question. The difficulty is that what is in the memorandum or articles of association may cover hire purchase, but this does not necessarily give the fact whether the company is actively engaged in that business.
§ 43. Mr. Blenkinsopasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will set up an inquiry into hire-purchase trading.
§ Mr. Vaughan-MorganNo, Sir. The hire-purchase Acts already give a substantial degree of protection against abuse of hire-purchase trading methods.
§ Mr. BlenkinsopDoes the Minister realise that this will be a great disappointment in view of the feeling, I think on both sides of the House, that very many undesirable practices are growing up and that a large number of new credit organisations are springing up with very undesirable practices which are imposing great hardship on large numbers of people, and, in particular, are imposing very high and very harsh terms of loan?
§ Mr. Vaughan-MorganI would rather look at more detailed information if the hon. Member could give it.