Mr. Rostron Duckworthasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the decision that nothing can be done to assist British subjects who have lost all the money they had in accounts in British banks operating in France, he will take steps to make it clear to the public what the position of bank accounts will be if, in the future, any branch of any British bank in this country or abroad is destroyed or falls into enemy hands?
§ Sir K. WoodMoney payable in a foreign country which is occupied by the enemy necessarily ceases to be available during hostilities; but there is no 995W analogy between such a case and that of the deposits of a customer of an individual branch in this country. So far as this country is concerned, neither the destruction of a particular branch nor the fact that it fell into the hands of the enemy would in any way affect the final liability of the bank concerned to its depositors in respect of their accounts. I may also add that the banks have jointly taken measures to ensure that adequate banking facilities continue to be available in the event of any dislocation of business or communications which may be caused by war conditions.