THOMAS COOK & SON, LTD. PROPOSAL FOR REPATRIATING CONTROL OF: Memo. by Chancellor of the Exchequer.

5. In those conditions Lord Stamp has approached me informally concerning a proposal that the British Railways should acquire control of Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd., by buying a majority of the shares from the Custodian. The scheme is at present quite inchoate but the broad idea is that they should seek a bargain under which they would acquire the shares for a nominal figure, undertaking, however, that they would subsidise the Company sufficiently to meet its losses until it can become profitable again after the war.