§ A Petition of the United Company of merchants of England trading to the East Indies, was presented and read; setting forth; "That, by an act of the 37th year of his present Majesty, to enable the said company to raise money by further increasing their capital stock, and to extend the provisions existing respecting the present stock of the Company to the said increased stock; after reciting, that the affairs of the petitioners required a permanent advance of a considerable sum of money beyond what the petitioners could raise under the powers then vested in them by law, they are authorised and empowered to raise money by enlarging their then capital stock or fund of 6,000,000l, to any sum or sums not exceeding the further sum of 2,000,000l. capital stock, so that their whole capital stock should not exceed the capital sum of 8,000,000l; and that, by an act passed in the 47th year of his present Majesty, to enable the East, India Company to raise money upon bond instead of increasing their capital stock, after reciting the said act of the 37th year of his Majesty, and that the petitioners had not then enlarged their capital stock under and by virtue of the powers contained in the last-mentioned act, it is enacted that it should be lawful to and for the petitioners, by and with the approbation and consent of the board of commissioners for the affairs of India for the time being, at any time or times thereafter, to borrow upon bonds, to be issued under their common seal, any further sum or sums of money not exceeding, in the whole, the sum of 2,000,000l. over and above such sum and sums as the petitioners could then lawfully raise on their bonds, and to apply the money so to be borrowed and raised for such purposes as under and by virtue of the said act of the 37th year of his, Majesty the money to be raised by enlarging the capital stock of the petitioners was 1175 applicable; and by the said act it is provided that when the petitioners should nave raised any part of the money which they were thereby authorised to raise by bond, then, so long as such further bond, debt, or any part thereof, should continue, all the money thereafter to be raised, by enlarging the capital stock of the petitioners under and by virtue of the act passed in the 37th year of his Majesty, should be applied towards the reduction of the bond debt of the petitioners until it should be reduced to the sum which the petitioners might then lawfully raise by bond; and in case the petitioners should enlarge their capital stock under and by virtue of the act passed in the 37th year of his Majesty before they should have increased their bond debt under the authority of the act now in recital, that then the sum which they were thereby empowered to raise on bond should be reduced by the sum of 200l. sterling in respect of every 100l. capital stock so enlarged, and so in proportion for a greater or less amount of the capital stock which should have been created; and that, since the passing of the last-mentioned act, the petitioners, with such approbation and consent as therein is mentioned, have borrowed upon bonds issued under their common seal such further sum of money as they were thereby empowered to borrow and raise; but they have not yet increased their capital stock under and by virtue of the said act of the 37th year of his Majesty; and that a very considerable sum, part of the debts secured by the engagements of the petitioners in the East Indies, and which was incurred by reason of territorial and political expenses in that country, has lately been discharged in India by means of bills drawn by the governments of the petitioners in the East Indies upon the court of directors of the petitioners in London, and thereby it has become necessary for the petitioners to provide in this country a much larger sum of money than in the ordinary course of their transactions can arise from the sales of their goods and the other ordinary receipts and means of the petitioners; and they would be able to raise the money so wanted upon their own credit, either upon their bonds or by increasing their capital stock under the authority of the said act of the 37th year of his Majesty, or partly in one way and partly in the other, as from time to time may appear most expedient; But they cannot increase their bond debt 1176 without the authority of parliament; and if they were to increase their capital stock, the money to be raised thereby would be applicable under the existing provisions of the last-mentioned act, to discharge the bond debt raised under the authority thereof; and that the petitioners are obliged by law to make out their accounts of sales of goods and other matters in this country to the 1st day of March in every year, and therefore were unable to make out their accounts and estimates so as to ascertain the probable amount of the money they would have occasion to raise in the current year till after the time limited by the. House for receiving petitions for private Bills was expired; and therefore praying the House to permit the petitioners to present a petition for leave to bring in a Bill to enable them to raise a further sum of money upon bond instead of increasing their capital stock, and to alter some of the provisions in an act passed in the 47th year of his present Majesty relative thereto."
§ Ordered, That Leave be given to present a Petition as desired. Then the Said Petition was presented and read; and ordered to be referred to a Committee of the whole House for Monday next.