§ Sir Richard Glynasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the changes in percentages and in money terms of wages, salaries, dividends and company profits for the 12 months to the latest convenient date.
§ Mr. GreenIt is estimated that wages and salaries paid in the first quarter of 1964 were £363 million or just over 9 per cent. higher than in the corresponding quarter of 1963. Separate figures of wages and salaries are not available. Gross trading profits of companies are estimated to have risen by £155 million or 20 per cent. during the same period. These comparisons are, however, affected by the bad weather during the first quarter of 1963 which depressed both wages and profits, and particularly the latter. Comparable quarterly figures for payments of dividends are not available but summaries of the accounts of public companies compiled by theFinancial Times show that companies reporting in the first quarter of 1964 had increased their ordinary dividends by just over 7 per cent. compared with the previous year.