Sir Isaac Pitman: I was referring to the registration of companies, not in London, but elsewhere. It was only in regard to this development and its effect upon a large and important part of London's commercial life.
Sir Isaac Pitman: May I give the Chancellor the answer? The real answer is that the units become more manageable. By ploughing back, one gets, say, ten times the capitalisation with £100 shares, and, as there are few people who can spend £1,000, it is a good thing to make it a more manageable and more marketable unit.
Sir Isaac Pitman: Might I put to the Chancellor this point, which I think, with respect, is more important? There is no difference between a technical improvement in the market, in some news connected, say, with the assaying of the ore in a particular mine, and the technical situation which arises from a decision to do a capitalisation of this kind. It shows the prospects of a company are good, and the price...
Sir Isaac Pitman: I would like to draw the attention of the Committee to two possible ways of finding a saving in this direction, which, as well as being a saving, would offer advantages from the efficiency point of view. As I understand it, the Civil Service Commissioners have not really made up their minds whether the new techniques of examination are better than the old. So, to a large extent the two...
Sir Isaac Pitman: It is always a pleasure to listen to the hon. Member for Elland (Mr. Cobb). He is one of the pillars of the modern "managerial revolution" and he has an outstanding record in management. I think, however, that for the first part of his speech he ought to have read his Bible a little better. There is a fine passage in Ecclesiasticus which says: Speak to thy friend: peradventure he did it...
Sir Isaac Pitman: Before the hon. Gentleman leaves that point, I would like him to study that bit in Ecclesiasticus to which I previously referred. This is a pure ex parte statement. The trade association is not necessarily or even to his knowledge, behaving badly. I think the mere willingness of trade associations to enter into partnership with labour to improve organisation and methods is sufficient evidence...
Sir Isaac Pitman: I would like to ask the hon. Gentleman if he would admit that restrictionist practices can be good, and, secondly, if he has read the recent report from the Committee set up by the present President of the Board on the price regulation of the Association for Radio Valves, in which it was found that, on going into the whole thing, and all these allegations which have been made, there was no...
Sir Isaac Pitman: We are discussing an Amendment to reduce this sum of £700 million to £400 million. It seems to me that the Minister himself has produced the strongest argument for such a reduction, because he claimed that the companies and the municipalities will require that sum of money in expenditure for expansion during the future; but he is making a major error of confusion, because he is assuming...
Sir Isaac Pitman: There is one point submitted by my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir J. Mellor) which the Financial Secretary either did not understand or else in regard to which he was not being fair. In any case he slid off the issue completely. My hon. Friend was referring to line 7, and if the Financial Secretary will look at the Resolution he will see that it says: …any guarantee by the...
Sir Isaac Pitman: I am glad to follow the hon. Member for Abingdon (Sir R. Glyn), and I am glad also that the Parliamentary Secretary was present as I believe with the President of the Board of Trade when he made what I think was a most important contribution to the Debate. I agree with him in two things he said. First, that statistics are highly valuable in these matters; I am quite certain that statistics...
Sir Isaac Pitman: That was in terms of global figures, not individual forms. If it is of individual information, every business-man I have asked would rather fill in two forms than have the first one circulated behind his back.
Sir Isaac Pitman: I should like to bring the discussion back to the question of what is the real difference between the two sides of the House. The present Regulations come under the heading of "Emergency Regulations." There are two words there, "emergency" and "regulations." Both sides of the House very much regret the emergency; the real difference is that we on this side regret the Regulations, whereas hon....
Sir Isaac Pitman: There are three ways in which—
Sir Isaac Pitman: Any of those three events can happen easily within the next ten years. One very good reason—and it has also been advanced from the other side of the House—is the possibility of the hard currencies themselves coming into a devaluation. That would immediately reorientate or restate the whole of the problem. If, for example, there were a big depreciation of the American dollar, the whole...
Sir Isaac Pitman: I have not quite caught the point of that interruption.
Sir Isaac Pitman: I went from this country to America on the "Aquitania" very recently. I went abroad without the slightest difficulty, and without any attempt being made to see whether there were notes, currency or bearer bonds in my luggage. That is what happens now.
Sir Isaac Pitman: I have quite a clear conscience. I did not attempt to do anything illegal. I come now to the question of the harm which this Bill will do. The result of what the Government are now trying to do in normal rather than emergency situations will undermine respect for the law. This is grave moral harm. Again it is hypocritical of His Majesty's Government to say, as they do in that Memorandum,...
Sir Isaac Pitman: We are talking of questions of finance. The reason why French money left the country was—this is perfectly clear—that the whole country lost confidence in the Government—[Interruption.] It is only necessary to study the election figures to confirm my point. Not only the electors but even the Labour Chancellor and the Labour Prime Minister lost confidence in the Labour Government. Is it...
Sir Isaac Pitman: Perhaps the hon. Member will agree that the acceptance houses in London have developed fresh techniques and that their lending is coordinated and efficient. If, however, it is purely a question of developing a coordination policy so that they will not lose money— they do not want to lose money—there is no need for an Act for that. We must remember that, and in the borrowing and lending to...
Sir Isaac Pitman: Stable withdrawal.