§ Captain JESSELasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether in Appendix III. of the return relating to the National Debt, presented to the House of Commons by command, he could see his way to have the amounts of the contingent liabilities and also of the guaranteed loans totalled up; and whether he would explain why in the return issued by the order of the House of Commons the figures commence on the 1st of April each year, whereas in the return presented by command the figures are made up to the 31st of March in each year, respectively?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEIn reply to the first part of the question, I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to an answer given by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for East Worcestershire as Chancellor of the Exchequer to a question on this subject on the 23rd February, 1905 (Hansard, Vol. 141, column 1099). In the absence of a statement of the amount of the contingent liabilities of the State in respect of the assets of the savings banks and friendly societies, an aggregate total would be misleading and useless. As regards the second part of the question, an explanation of the origin of the difference between the two returns, will be found in an answer by the then Financial Secretary to a question in this House on the 24th June, 1908 (Hansard, Vol. 190, column 1724).