This is a most interesting Clause, but I feel that we ought to hear something more about it and that the Financial Secretary would wish to add to his laurels by telling us. It will be noted that we are now being asked to grant a sum not exceeding £250 million to the Government. Some of us who are interested in this matter of public works loans took the line the other day that, although, quite obviously, the right hon. Gentleman could not say definitely how the whole of this amount would be split up, it would be quite possible for him to give us a general sense of direction whether, for example, a large proportion of this money would fall to be paid for the building of temporary houses, or for other purposes, such as general housing or other developments. We asked the right hon. Gentleman whether the recent capital expenditure cuts would have any effect?

Before we grant a very big sum such as this, we should have some idea of where it is going. The right hon. Gentleman, in his reply to me on Friday, said: It is, therefore, quite impossible for me to give the hon. Member for Torquay any indication of how the figures will be broken up, as the money has not yet been advanced."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 5th December, 1947; Vol. 445. c. 732.] That struck me as being a rather curious expression, even for this Government. It was curious that we should have no understanding of how the money was going until it had actually been advanced to someone. I have had some dealings in these matters one way or another, and I think that there must be a policy or some means of knowing whether the money is likely to be needed for certain developments. For that reason, even if no one else wishes to know, I venture to ask, in a perfectly friendly way, if we may have some further explanation before we actually pass this Clause.