§ Mr. ROWLANDSasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the Stock Exchange are charging higher rates for carrying over pre-moratorium stocks than were charged immediately after the moratorium when the bank rate was the same as it is to-day; whether he is aware that the joint stock banks are charging no higher rate than they were charging in 1914; and also if he will bring the 622W necessary pressure to bear upon the Stock Exchange Committee to carry out their undertaking, as promised to the Treasury in 1914, to hand on to their clients the advantages that were given to them by the Treasury arrangement that prevented their bankruptcy?
§ Mr. BONAR LAW:It is true that the Stock Exchange are charging higher rates than were charged immediately after the moratorium when the bank rate was the same as it is to-day, but I am informed that it is not the case that the joint stock banks generally are charging no higher rate now than they were charging at that time. Then it was 5 per cent.; now it is 5½ per cent. In these circumstances, as the rate charged by the banks is less than the maximum of 1 per cent, above bank rate which they are entitled to charge under the scheme, the Treasury has no locus standi for interfering.