1003] HOUSE OF COMMONS, Resolutions concerning the Bank of England. [1004 the year ending 5th April, 1814, was 2,784,3437., which, if it had been collected in the usual manner, at an allowance of 5d. per pound, would have cost the public 58,0074; and the cost for collecting 20,188,2937., being the whole of the duty received from 1806 to 1814, on which allowances have been made, would at the same rate have amounted to 420,5891. "That all monies received by the Bank on account of duties on property, are paid into the Exchequer immediately after the receipt thereof: when this circumstance is contrasted with the ordinary progress of monies into the Exchequer, the advantage resulting to the public may be fairly estimated at two per cent.; which, on the amount of duties for the year ending 5th April 1814, would be 55,6861., and on the total amount from 1800 to 1814, would be 403,7651. 3. "That the total amount of Banknotes and Bank Post-bills in circulation in the years 1795, and 1796, (the latter being the year previous to the Restriction on Cash Payments) and in the year 1814, was as follows: 1795, Feb. 1, £12,735,520; Aug. 1, £11,214,000 Public Balances on an average of one Exchequer, made up in four different £11,966,371. Including Bank-notes deposited at £11,324,107. Excluding Bank-notes deposited at the Exchequer. 6. "That it appears, according to accounts before this House, that the average of the aggregate amount of balances of public money in the hands of the Bank of England, from February 1807 to April 1815, was 5,010,019/.; and that the average of Bills and Bank-notes deposited in the chests of the four Tellers of the Exchequer, from August 1807 to April 1815, was 5,968,793.; making together 10,978,812, being 850,9061. less than the average of the said accounts for one year ending 5th January 1807, as stated in the report of the committee on the Public Expenditure. years 7. "That by the 39 and 40 Geo. 3, cap. 28, extending the charter of the Bank £1,724,747 for 21 years, the Bank advanced to the without public 3,000,000l. for 6 of 837,966 interest, and extended the loan 11,686,800l. for 21 years at an interest of 31. per cent per annum, as a consideration for the privileges, profits, emoluments, 4,375,405 benefits, and advantages, granted to the 634,614 Bank by such extension of its charter. £5,010,019 £2,562,713 That the Interest of 3,000,000l. for 6 5. That it appears, from a report ordered to be printed 10th August, 1807, from "the Committee on Public Expenditure of the United Kingdom," that the aggregate amount of balances and deposits of public money in the Bank of England, including Bank-notes deposited in the amounts to was continued to the Public from That the above Loan of 3,000,000%. 4,908,456 the Public of 21. per cent., or 60,000%. per annum; which in 8 years and 8 months amounts to That in 1808 the Bank advanced to the Public 3,000,0004. without interest, which, by an Act of the present Session, is to remain without interest until the 5th of April, 1816; the interest on this advance, at 51, per cent., will for 8 years amount to 520,000 1,200,000 8. "That by the 39 and 40 Geo. 3, cap. 28, sec. 13, it is enacted, that during the continuance of the charter, the Bank shall enjoy all privileges, profits, emoluments, benefits, and advantages whatsoever, which they now possess and enjoy by virtue of any employment by or on behalf of the public. "That previously to such renewal of their charter, the Bank was employed as the public banker, in keeping the cash of all the principal departments in the receipt of the public revenue, and in issuing and conducting the public expen diture. That the average amount of the Public Balances in the hands of the Bank, between the 1st of February 1814 and the 15th January 1815, upon accounts opened at the Bank previously to the renewal of the charter on the 28th March 1800, was Unclaimed Dividends, for the average of one year ending 1st January 1815 -£4,337,025 That the average of Public Balances in the hands of the Bank during the same period, upon accounts opened at the Bank between the 28th March 1800 and the 27th Feb. 1808, was That the average of Public Balances in the hands of the Bank during the same period, upon accounts opened at the Bank subsequent to the 27th Feb. 1808, was 779,794 £5,116,819 Message from his royal highness the "GEORGE P. R. "The Prince Regent, acting in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, thinks it proper to acquaint this House, that a Marriage, to which the consent of his Royal Highness was duly given, has been solemnized between his brother the Duke of Cumberland and a daughter of the reigning Duke of Mecklenberg Strelitz, niece to her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and relict of the Prince Salms Braunfels. "The many proofs which this House has afforded of their affectionate attachment to his Majesty's person and family, leave the Prince Regent no doubt of their readiness to enable his Royal Highness to make such provision for their Royal Highnesses on this occasion as the rank and station of their Royal Highnesses may appear to require." Ordered to be referred to a committee In the of the whole House to-morrow. course of the evening, Mr. Bennet begged leave to inquire of the right hon. gentleman opposite, whe ther he knew it to be the intention of the noble lord to submit any proposition to the House in consequence of the Message which had been that day brought down respecting the marriage of the duke of Cumberland, and if a grant was to be proposed, he wished to know whether the £370,018 right hon. gentleman could state the probable amount of that grant? 261,162 9. "That whenever the engagements now subsisting between the public and the Bank shall expire, it may be proper to consider the advantages derived by the Bank from its transactions with the public with a view to the adoption of such arrangements as may be consistent with those principles of equity and good faith, which ought to prevail in all transactions between the public and the Bank of England." HOUSE OF COMMONS. Tuesday, June 27. PRINCE REGENT'S MESSAGE RESPECTING THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND'S MARRIAGE.] Lord Castlereagh presented the following The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, it was evident from the terms of the Message that a proposition for a grant to the duke of Cumberland would be made; but to what extent it might be, he was not at present prepared to say. Mr. Tierney asked the right hon. gentleman if he could inform the House when the marriage took place, and why the communication which had now been made was so long delayed? He thought it would have been but fair, to inform the House what was the nature of the provision intended to be proposed. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said that no unusual or unnecessary delay had occurred in making the communication to Parliament; and with respect to the intended amount of the grant, he believed Such a question had never been asked, nor such a communication ever made, till the day on which the subject was regu- | of concluding. After examining into the larly brought forward. PRINCE REGENT'S MESSAGE respecting A VOTE OF CREDIT.] The Chancellor of the Exchequer presented the following Message from the Prince Regent: "GEORGE P. R. "The Prince Regent, in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, considering that it may be of very great importance to provide for such emergencies as may arise, and relying on the experienced zeal and affection of the House of Commons, trusts that this House will enable him to take such measures as the exigency of affairs may require." This Message was ordered to be taken into consideration to-morrow. Sir M. W. Ridley announced his intention of opposing the grant of any further sum of money, because he could see no reason to call for the additional provision, under existing circumstances. The hon. baronet was proceeding, when The Speaker called him to order, observing, that upon giving notice of a proceeding, it was not regular to enter into a statement of reasons. Sir M. W. Ridley said, that he did not desire to persevere, but he thought it his duty to take the earliest opportunity of objecting to any proposed addition to the burthens of the country. IRISH FINANCES.] The Report of the Select Committee on the Public Income and Expenditure of Ireland having been entered as read, a Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald said, that as he did not apprehend the motion he should have the honour of submitting to the House would meet with any opposition, it would not be necessary for him to enter into any detailed observations upon the subject. The House was aware that a committee had been appointed this session, similar to that which had been appointed on former session, to inquire into the state of the finances of Ireland; that committee, after very mature deliberation, made a Report, which, in consequence of the very voluminous Appendix which was subjoined to it, could not be printed and delivered to the members before this day; he should therefore deem it unfair to enter into any discussion upon the subject now, even if he did not intend to submit the motion with which he should have the honour $ state of the finances of Ireland, the com mittee came to a resolution, which they considered themselves competent to do, under the Act of Union, of recommending a consolidation of the Exchequers of the two countries. He was aware that there prevailed in the committee a difference of article of the Union, and if the question opinion upon the construction of the 7th were now to be discussed, he should feel it necessary to justify the principles upon which the committee had proceeded; but from offering any arguments upon the as that was not the case, he should abstain subject; at the same time the House would feel that it was right to mark its sense of the importance of the subject, by coming to a resolution to take the Report into consideration early in the next session. There were many reasons, even if he were speaking at an earlier period of the session, why the House should postpone the consideration to the next session. The object of the proposition was to alter the whole financial state of Ireland, and it was therefore highly necessary that the public of that country should be fully apprized of the extent of the measure, and of the manner in which it would affect them, before it was definitively adopted. He should therefore not trouble the House any longer, except to read the last paragraph of the Report, which recommended the consolidation of the two Exchequers. Mr. Fitzgerald having read the paragraph, concluded with moving, "That this House will, at an early period in the next session of parliament, take into consideration the said Report." Mr. Bankes said, he should follow the example of moderation which the right hon. gentleman had set to him, and abstain from entering into the discussion at present. In all that he had said of the importance and magnitude of the subject he fully concurred: he concurred, too, in the propriety of deferring the consideration until the next session. He was one of those who differed from the right hon. gentleman and from the majority of the committee, in opinion respecting the constitution of the 7th Article of the Act of Union. He thought they had taken an erroneous view of the whole question. He did not deny, however, that many good results might follow from the adoption of the recommendation of the committee, and from the proposed union of the two exchequers. He could not avoid taking this opportunity of doing justice to the abilities of the right hon. gentleman. Whatever course might be taken, he should regret any measure which should deprive the country of the right hon. gentleman's services; he had often differed from him, but he had at all times been sensible of the great talents and knowledge which he possessed, of the candour which he had upon all occasions shown, and of the zeal, the fidelity, and distinguished ability with which he had discharged all his public duties. He had adopted the financial system which he found acted on by others; if in his (Mr. Bankes) opinion he had followed it too long, he had, on the other hand, showed energy and great ability in his efforts to ameliorate the financial state of Ireland. If these were faults, they were the faults of those who had preceded the right hon. gentleman; the merits of improvement were all his own. The Resolution was agreed to. ASSIZE OF BREAD REPEAL BILL.] On the motion for the second reading of the Bill to repeal the law with regard to the Assize of Bread, Mr. Calcraft expressed a wish that this motion should be postponed, as he, among others who applied, had not yet been able to obtain from the Vote-office a copy of the Report of the committee upon which the Bill was founded. This was, besides, a matter of such general interest, that he thought it ought not to be passed until the next session, in order that the public should have sufficient opportunity to consider its merits. For himself, he declared an inability to comprehend how the public could be benefited by a measure of this nature. There was no assize law as to beer, and yet that article had not become cheaper on that account. The assize law only fixed the maximum at which bread should be sold, but by no means prevented bakers from selling at a cheaper rate if they thought proper. Mr. F. Lewis regretted, that the hon. gentleman should experience any difficulty in procuring the Report of the Committee; but he saw no reason why the second reading should be delayed, as the measure had been already so long under consideration, and as the session was not likely to continue many days. Mr. Alderman C. Smith had no objection to the Bill, but wished that the bakers should be protected. General Thornton was anxious that the (VOL. XXXI.) Bill should be passed with all convenient expedition, and wished that its provisions were extended throughout the country. Mr. Alderman Atkins thought that the House should be very cautious how they overturned a system which had stood the test of 700 years. The principle of the Assize Law was, in his opinion, unobjec tionable, although the mode of taking the assize was imperfect, and required modification. It was known that the chandlers settled among themselves the price at which candles should be sold per dozen, and would it not be better for the public that this price should be settled by the magistrates than by interested parties? Mr. R. Smith declared, that he had not yet seen the Report alluded to. Mr. F. Lewis argued at some length in support of the Bill. The total repeal of the Assize Law would, he said, alone be effectual, and this was demonstrated by a mass of evidence examined before the Committee; from which it appeared, that no modification would avail to produce the desired effect. The Assize Law had, in fact, uniformly served to render bread dearer instead of cheaper, and bread was notoriously lower in those places where no Assize Law prevailed. The hon. alder man (Atkins) had no doubt asserted the tendency of this law to reduce the price of bread, and yet that alderman was among those who contributed so much to agitate the public some time ago, by alledging, that if wheat were at 80s. a quarter, bread must be sold at 16d. a loaf. Yet if such were the effect, a quantity of wheat which would sell at 41., would in bread produce 71. 14s. So much for the profit of the bakers, and the consequences of that system of assize, for which the hon. alderman was an advocate upon this occasion. It appeared in evidence that the assize was not merely the maximum, but afforded a pretext for keeping up the high price of bread. For the witnesses examined before the Committee, generally answered, that no respectable baker would sell bread at a lower rate than that fixed: by the assize, because bread so sold was generally considered of inferior quality. Then as to the manner of fixing the assize, it mattered nothing to the baker at what price flour was sold under the existing law, because that price settled the price of the loaf, and that might be easily fixed by arrangement between the mealman and the baker; which arrangement was indeed the more easy, as the latter was generally (3 T) STAMP DUTIES BILL.] The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved the order of the day for going into a consideration of the Report of the Stamp Duties Bill. Mr. Bankes said, that this was a subject of the utmost importance, and he would not suppose his right hon. friend could think of bringing it forward in so very thin a House. He was undoubtedly in their power, but he did not wish to take advantage of there not being a House, in order to impede the business of his Majesty's Government, The public, however, were at the same time so materially interested in many points of this subject, which remained yet unsettled, that he hoped his right hon. friend would name some day for a discussion of the subject, when a fuller attendance might be ex pected. the agent of the former. The latter, in fact, who was often a very poor man, had his flour at long credit from the former; and yet the price settled upon such credit, formed the standard by which the price of bread was fixed. It was obvious, therefore, that the public must suffer under the existing law, and that such a law ought to be abolished. The evil was inherent in the law, and no modification as to the mode of fixing the assize could avail. Another modification which he intended to propose in the committee, was to amend the law as it now stood, imposing a penalty on the baker for any bread which he might have on his premises being short of weight, and to inflict the penalty only for such bread as he might offer to sell or actually sell, under the full weight provided by act of parliament. He would also, of course, abolish the right of search. ing the premises for such bread, as it was often a great oppression upon a man to be fined for certain loaves being deficient in weight, which perhaps were never intended to be offered for sale. He agreed with the hon. alderman that the passing this Act was only an experiment, as was the case indeed with almost every act which that House passed; but he thought it impossible to make the experiment fairly, without wholly repeating the present law. He was anxious that the mea-lative to the composition which had been sure should be carried with as little delay as possible, and therefore should propose that the Bill be committed on Friday. The Chancellor of the Exchequer suggested, that as little time should be lost as possible in the present advanced state of the session. Mr. Tierney thought it would be better to pass such a measure at the commence ment rather than at the end of a session, because there would then be time to mark its operation, and to amend it if found deficient. Mr. Whitbread concurred in the opinion expressed by his right hon. friend, and thought that it would be better to make the Bill as perfect now as possible, and then leave it to be taken up again and passed at the beginning of the next session. Mr. F. Lewis said, that one argument, and a very strong one, for passing the measure now might cease to exist at the commencement of the next, or of any other session; he meant the present low price of corn; at the same time he was disposed to meet the wishes of the House. The Bill was then committed for Friday. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that after the candid manner in which bis hon. friend had stated his wish for a postponement of the business, he would not press it at present; but would take the opinion of the Speaker whether the amendments proposed might not be taken on the Report, as it would tend materially to expedition, if the other parts could be taken into immediate consideration. Mr. Grenfell said, he had an amendment of considerable importance to propose re made with the Bank respecting the stamps on their notes. As the Act stood, that composition had been made on an average of three years: now he thought that it should be on the average of the last year. By the clause now in the Bill, the Bank would pay 87,500l.; whereas by the effect of the clause he had to propose, the Bank would pay 100,000l. The Bank had received immense advantages. Since 1789, the loss to the public, in consequence of these advantages, had not been less than half a million; and he saw no reason why the public should longer submit to be such losers. If, therefore, he should not stand in a worse situation, but could move his clause with equal effect on the Report, he should have no objection to take the debate on that stage of the Bill; but if he could not have that advantage, he should certainly give it his opposition. The Chancellor of the Exchequer appealed to the authority of the Chair. The Speaker expressed his opinion to be, that such a clause could not be introduced on the Report, because by the clause now standing in the Bill a tax was |