Perhaps the hon. Gentleman did not follow my figures sufficiently closely. I said that by the end of 1974 there was a much greater investment in company securities than in land. I was referring merely to 1973 and 1974, when there was a movement away from company securities into land and property. The hon. Member said that there was a figure of 33 per cent. for investment in company securities. Such investment covers a wide range of securities. We have not been able to break down the figures to show the proportions of the investments between the various types of companies. No doubt some money is invested in property companies, some in financial companies and some in manufacturing companies. We must, therefore, try to arrive at some breakdown between the different company securities. I should say in all fairness that some investments in, for example, loans and mortgages will be of assistance to industry in its creation of new assets.

Another change which took place in 1973 and 1974 was an increase, especially in the case of pension funds, and probably also in the case of insurance companies, in the amount of money which was invested in short-term assets. In 1973 pension funds' investment in short-term assets represented only 19 per cent. of total net investment, but by the end of 1974 that figure had gone up to 61 per cent. and that represented a flow of money from ordinary shares into bank deposits and various other short-term investments.

There are a number of reasons for this. I am not criticising the pension funds or the institutions. Among the reasons were the economic policies of the last Government. Another reason was the liquidity crisis which occurred at that time and which caused a shortage of working capital for industrial companies. This crisis came about mainly because of the rapid increases in production costs, especially the costs of raw materials and fuel. Companies wanted short-term money, and this money found its way on a short-term basis into the banks and then into the companies.

When there is high inflation, institutions, quite understandably, are reluctant to lend their money in medium-term or long-term loans, because they can see the value of their money, and of course the value of benefits which they can pay to the members, depreciating. They then tend to leave their money in short-term assets. But, of course, we know industry cannot usually plan ahead if it has to rely on short-term funds.

The control of inflation, therefore, should assist the provision of funds for industry on a medium and long-term basis. If we have a high rate of inflation, people are reluctant to invest their money medium and long term. They prefer to invest only in short-term assets.