§ Sir HAROLD ELVERSTONasked the Chancellor of the Exhequer whether he is aware that, although the prospectuses of the Four-and-a-Half Per Cent. War Loan and of Exchequer Bonds stated that the securities would be accepted as the equivalent of cash for the purpose of subscriptions to new issues, these securities are not accepted in conjunction with cash in payment for the new Loan, Post Office issues of the old securities are not accepted as the equivalent of cash at the Bank of England, nor Bank of England issues so accepted at the Post Office; and that whereas an investor in the new loan for cash can obtain stock or bonds as he desires, an investor paying for the new loan in older securities can only obtain it, in the first place, in the same form as the old security, and that a holder of both Four-and-a-Half Per Cent. War Loan and Exchequer Bonds of both 632W Bank of England and Post Office issues who desires to subscribe a further sum making up a level holding in the Bank of England may be required to make two applications for conversion, two applications for odd amounts, and two applications for purchases with new money, in place of one application to be paid for partly in cash and partly in old securities as the equivalent of cash; and whether, in view of the fact that the filling up and signing of these numerous forms bewilders people and has a tendency to deter them from subscribing for as much as they otherwise would, he will arrange without delay that the conditions in the prospectuses of the old securities shall be literally complied with in every respect, and that the old securities shall be treated as the equivalent of cash?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWThe alternatives suggested by the hon. Member were most carefully considered, but were found to involve practical difficulties which were quite insuperable.