Proceeding, Mr. Lloyd George said that with regard to the general question it was certainly desirable that a statement should be made as to the arrangements entered into by the Government with regard to the finance of the country, and he hoped in the course of a few days to do so. There were two or three very special difficulties as to which he had not, personally, been able to make up his mind. The first was with regard to the moratorium. A number of hon. gentlemen thought it ought to be brought to a speedy termination. (Cries of "No," and "Hear, hear.") He would tell the House what had been done on the subject. He had issued a questionaire to some of the leading traders of the country; he had not merely consulted bankers in the City of London. Up to three o'clock that day he had received something like 8,000 replies to the question which he had put. They were in the proportion of something like 4,500 in favour of bringing the moratorium to an end on September 4th, to 3,500 in favour of extending it. Bankers and financing houses were almost unanimously in favour of extending it. Retail traders were in favour of putting an end to it, but only by a majority. Manufacturers, he should say, were two to one in favour of bringing it to an end, but the one-third represented very important interests in the manufacturing world. They were very much afraid that if it were brought to an end there might be a crash. It was therefore a thing that could not be decided altogether by a majority. Merchants, both in the foreign and home trades, were in favour of an extension of the moratorium. He was inclined to consider whether it was possible to get a limited moratorium, which would protect those particular interests without interfering with those who would rather have no moratorium at all. While about 10,000 forms of inquiry had been issued, that did not represent all that had been done. He had endeavoured to ascertain the opinions of bakers, butchers, and other retailers through their societies. The result was that they were hopelessly divided on the subject. The Government would have to come to a decision within the next few days. As an instance of different points of view, he might mention that at a meeting of traders at the Treasury last week, one gentleman said that as a colliery proprietor he would like to bring the moratorium to an end, but as a merchant he would like it to continue. He agreed that the steps which had been taken with regard to the discontinuing of bills involved risks, but this was a time when they must take risks; they must keep up the credit of the country, so that they might not find at the end of the war that the important business which they had been transacting for the whole civilised world had passed away to some other country.