§ Mr. Croslandasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how he proposes to deal with the pledged securities which will be released when the loan of $425,000,000, obtained in 1941 from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, is wholly repaid.
§ Mr. GaitskellThe bulk of this loan has already been repaid out of income from the securities and proceeds of certain sales and it is likely that the loan would in this way have been wholly repaid by the autumn of this year. We have, however, now given notice to the Corporation 201W under Section 6 of the Loan Agreement that we will repay any balance still outstanding on 1st October, 1951. The securities, which were borrowed, will be returned to the owners as soon as possible after they have been released from pledge. The securities which were vested in the Treasury will, as a general rule, be retained in the Treasury ownership. There may, however, be a few cases where there is a strong case in the national interest for the resale of the vested securities to the former owners. I am prepared to consider resale at current market value to former British holders of substantial share holdings where this enables them to resume active interest in undertakings with which they were previously associated.