§ Sir P. Hannonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is against the public interest to give Christmas presents this year?
§ Sir K. WoodI am confident that we shall all wish that our Christmas presents should be such as not to hinder and if possible to help our war effort. The National Savings Committee, with the cooperation of the Post Office, have arranged for National Savings gift tokens and Christmas cards to be available, whereby National Savings to any amount from 6d. upwards can be given as a present, and this is clearly the best form of Christmas gift. Similar arrangements are being made in Scotland and Northern Ireland. I am confident that as regards other gifts the public will exercise reasonable discretion. As regards the sending of Christmas presents abroad, there are already in existence special arrangements for evacuated children. Subject to this exception, goods cannot be sent from this country to most overseas countries outside the sterling area except in return for payment in accordance with the regulations governing exports. This means that in the normal case the sending of gifts is ruled out and it would not be consistent with our war needs at the present time to make any general exception for Christmas presents. No cash remittances outside the sterling area can be permitted.