Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the raising of the limit from £10,000 to £50,000 of the amount free from control by the Capital Issues Committee, he will consult with the Industrial and Commercial Corporation with a view to ensuring that loans below £50,000 should only be provided by it when the objects of the firm or company seeking the accommodation accord with...
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: Does not the Chancellor of the Exchequer recollect that when I asked that these financial corporations should exercise hot merely financial considerations but also national considerations he told me that I need not trouble about that because it would be attended to by the Capital Issues Committee? Now he has abrogated it by increasing the limit from £10,000 to £50,000. It makes a...
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: Are they allowed to take a public-spirited view? Are they not constrained to take merely a financial view?
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: I have read the two new Clauses on the Order Paper with a great deal of care, and I have listened to the explanation which the right hon. Gentleman has given, and I am sure that he will agree that this is an exceedingly difficult and complicated subject. Clause 13, with which the main change is principally concerned, was dealt with pretty fully by the House in Committee, and on all sides...
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: I do not anticipate that the wish expressed in the last few words of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement will be frustrated. It is in no one's interest to hold up the Finance Bill of the year, and in view of the early Dissolution I feel sure we shall all be willing to carry the Bill through all its stages in this House, and I have no doubt that in another place the Bill will receive...
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: I am very glad that in the massacre of the innocents this ewe lamb has escaped the general slaughter. I think that the Chancellor's concessions, which will not probably cost a great deal in terms of to-day's figures, will be of some benefit to the further enlargement of industry. I hope they will have a substantial effect in that direction. We shall watch the results with anticipation. We on...
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: I would like to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer two questions with regard to that statement. The first question, which perhaps should be addressed to the Leader of the House, is—I am aware that the time at our disposal between now and the Dissolution is exceedingly short—Will there be any opportunity for the House to discuss the proposal? The second question is one that I would like...
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: Does that not mean that up to £50,000, a company whose objects are quite worthless from the national point of view can borrow money from one of these Corporations, when much more worthy objects are being ruled out by the shortage of money?
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: Will the Leader of the House answer the point that I put about giving time to the House to discuss the matter?
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: When the Prime Minister is considering the matter, will he bear in mind that there are other large centres of population, including the City of Edinburgh, where the same difficulty arises?
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: Has the Minister given any indication to the medical authorities that he himself will support these particular proposals, with his colleagues in the Government?
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: I think the Committee is aware of the fable of the wind and the sun. We have had the rude wind—I am not using the word in any offensive sense——of the Financial Secretary, and I appeal to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to come out with the sunshine of his smile and meet the wishes of the Committee. I am not going to make a long speech because that is really the gist of what I wished to...
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: Surely, in the last resort one can deal with an individual interest by compensation, but one cannot deal with a public interest by compensation.
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: The House is indebted to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for a lucid statement with regard to this somewhat complicated Measure, and it was none the worse, if I may say so, for not having occupied a very great deal of time. So far as I am concerned I propose to emulate the Chancellor in that healthy competition on brevity which I hope, Mr. Speaker, will gain your good graces, as you said...
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: I am very glad to hear that, and I need not proceed with the point. As long as the Chancellor is quite clear about that, my people will be satisfied, but they expressly asked me to put the point. I think the Chancellor will admit that it is implied rather than stated. There is no provision in the Bill which mentions boats. If there is any ambiguity, perhaps the Chancellor will make it quite...
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: My hon. Friend is entitled to raise that point when the time comes. I was not expressing a party opinion on it, and we shall see how the Debate goes. My hon. Friend will be able to express his point of view when the time comes, and, no doubt, those who sit with him will be able to do so.
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: I understand that it is the desire of the Committee that we should take this opportunity to discuss the relationship between the new Financial Corporations announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer about five weeks ago and the national financial system, and I propose to follow that course and, during my speech, to put certain questions to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to which I hope he...
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: I do not care what means the Chancellor uses provided that that consideration enters at some point. It may enter into the charter of these organisations that they are to use this discretion. It may enter, not through them but through the Capital Issues Committee, because there will be two sieves in considering applications, the sieve of the Corporations and the sieve of the Capital Issues...
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: I agree that this is going rather too far, but I feel that I have explained the point, to the effect that things appear to me to have gone a long way in the direction we desire.
Mr Frederick Pethick-Lawrence: I should like to point out that I did not say that I wanted these Corporations to have equity participation, and I should not like the Committee to think so. I asked which was going to be the case, and in doing so, I was not expressing an opinion but seeking one.
