§ Sir K. WOODasked the Minister of Health what reply he has made to the request of the local authority representatives of West Ham, East Ham, and the Essex County Council, asking that the period of certain loans should be extended for 20 years; and whether he has sanctioned such extension?
§ Mr. GREENWOODThe period for the repayment of the loans is fixed at 15 years by Section 114 of the Local Government Act, 1929, and I have no power, therefore, to sanction any extension.
§ Sir K. WOODasked the Minister of Health the present value to West Ham of the remission of interest for 15 years on the loan debt of the late West Ham guardians provided under Section 114 of the Local Government Act; and what this remission of interest and the spreading of the repayment of the loans for a period of 15 years instead of over the shorter period ending in July, 1936, within which such loans were formerly repayable, taken together, would be if expressed at a rate for the parishes which were comprised in the late Poor Law union?
§ Mr. GREENWOODThe present value of the remission of interest for 15 years which has been granted under Section 114 of the Local Government Act, 1929, in respect of the portion of the loan debt of the late West Ham board of guardians falling to be dealt with under that Section is about £500,000. The present value, included in this sum, of the remission, so far as it applies to the County Borough of West Ham alone, is about £186,000. The remission of interest and the spreading (also provided for in Section 114) of the repayment of the above-mentioned portion of the loan debt of the late board of guardians over a period of 15 years instead of over 1527W the shorter period ending in July, 1936, within which that portion of the debt was formerly repayable, taken together, would, if expressed as an annual rate, be equivalent to about 1s. 0½d. per £ for the parishes which were comprised in the late Poor Law union, for each unexpired year of the period within which the loans were originally payable.