§ 53. Mr. WATTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the numbers of 1469W War Savings Certificates sold in England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, respectively, up to some recent date; will he explain why Scotland drags so far comparatively behind England and Wales in this matter; and are the same means taken by his Department to raise these funds?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWAs explained in my predecessor's answer to a question by the hon. Member on the 17th October, 1916, actual statistics are available only as regards War Savings Certificates of the denominations of £l, £12 and £25. On the basis of the proportions as between the different parts of the United Kingdom of the sales of certificates of these denominations, the figures asked for are as follows (up to 10th February, 1917, inclusive):
England and Wales 60,949,062 Scotland 4,699,383 Ireland 989,831 Total 66,638,276 It will be observed that since the 11th October, 1916, the date up to which the figures given in the previous answer were calculated, the sales have been:
England and Wales (in round thousands) 23,343,000 Scotland 2,466,000 Ireland 224,000 Total 26,033,000 According to the figures of the 1911 Census the population of Scotland was about 13.20 per cent, of the population of England and Wales, while the Scottish proportion of the sales of certificates are:
Per cent Total figures to 10th February, 1917 7.71 Period from 11th October, 1916, to 10th February, 1917 10.56 It will be seen that the sales in Scotland have considerably improved in the later period. The answer to the last part of the question is in the affirmative.