To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the new customs tariff of the Commonwealth of Australia which imposes heavy additional protective duties upon imported commodities; and whether, as such a tariff is likely to impede the development and thus to impair the credit of Australia, he will represent to the Lord Chancellor the desirability of omitting Australian stocks from the list of trustee securities.

The new Australian tariff to which my hon. friend refers is still under consideration by the Commonwealth Legislature, and it is impossible to say at this stage what precise form the proposals will take before they are placed on the Statute-book. As regards the second portion of the Question, I may point out that thestatus of "trustee" securities is given to Colonial stocks by The Colonial Stock Act, 1900, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions prescribed by the Treasury under powers given them by that Act, and that the Lord Chancellor has no power to exclude from the category of "trustee" securities any Colonial stock with respect to which the requirements of the Act are complied with.