§ Sir L. Lyleasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether the moratorium prescribed in evacuated districts applies to local bank overdrafts of persons living in, or evacuated from, such areas?
§ Captain CrookshankThe interpretation of the Defence (Evacuated Areas) Regulations, 1940, in relation to particular classes of payments is in the last resort a matter for the courts, but I am advised that sums due in respect of bank overdrafts would not be subject to the moratorium provisions of those Regulations unless they were secured or charged on 991W any unoccupied premises in an evacuation area. I would add that it is possible that, in the circumstances of a particular case, a customer would be entitled in respect of a bank overdraft to the protection of paragraph 6 of the Regulations which relates to the extension of the Courts (Emergency Powers) Act, 1919. I would also refer my hon. Friend to the reply which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Buckrose (Major Braithwaite) on 8th August about the general policy of the banks in the Defence areas.