Mr. ROY WILSON:

I would like, with the permission of the House, to try to deal with some of the remarks made by the hon. Member for Dundee (Mr. Johnston). His complaint this afternoon is not, as I understand it, against the Chancellor of the Exchequer or the debt settlement with Italy; it is that too high a rate of interest was in the first instance offered to investors who lent their money during the War, and he finished his speech by urging the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his next Budget, to bring in some tax which would materially reduce the interest burden in respect of War debt. It does seem to me that we ought to get the proper perspective in matters of this sort. I do not accuse the hon. Member for Dundee of wilfully misrepresenting the facts in this House, but I want to draw the attention of the House to one or two points which I think hear upon his remarks, and which must be considered, not only by those in this House, but by people outside who have to deal with these matters.

It must not be forgotten that during the War one of the greatest anxieties which this country had to face was the provision of sufficient funds to carry on the War, and, if high rates of interest were offered in order to attract money with which to carry on the War, not only for ourselves but for our Allies, those high rates of interest were offered to attract, not only the limited amount of money available for investment in this country, but hundreds of millions of pounds which were subscribed from abroad. The question was, after all, a question of supply and demand. If we were to continue to do what we were doing during the War, namely, to finance, not only our own very heavy expenditure, but that of our Allies as well, it was incumbent upon the Government during the War to find the money on the best terms obtainable from all sources in every part of the globe. That is why, in my judgment, at any rate, and I am sure it is the opinion of financial authorities in the City of London, it was absolutely necessary that the Government should offer rates of interest like 5 per cent. on War Loan, such as they offered during the War. The hon. Member for Dundee has omitted to mention one very important fact, and that is that it was not the capitalist class who received the great advantage during the War in rate of interest on War Loan. Surely, he has forgotten that the class in this country who received the most remunerative rate of interest during the War were the small investors of this country, the workers of this country, who were asked to subscribe, and did subscribe, to War Savings Certificates, upon which they received, not interest at 5 per cent., which was subject to very heavy Income Tax and Super-tax, but interest at the. rate of 5¼ or 5½ per cent., free of Income Tax.