Mr. Calcraftbegged to ask a question of the gentlemen on the Treasury bench, upon a subject of considerable public interest. He understood that, of its own authority, government had taken upon itself to refuse the issue of any stamps for one and two pound country notes. If this was the fact, he thought it a great stretch of power.
Mr. Herriessaid, it was perfectly true that the government had taken upon itself to refuse stamps for one and two pound country notes. He imagined, that the understanding was general; that, if necessary, a short bill might be brought in to provide for exigencies, until the plan of the chancellor of the Exchequer was regularly stated. As the matter, however, was to come on so soon as Fri- 127 day next, government had deemed it expedient to take upon itself the responsibility of refusing any further stamps for the country small notes; in order to prevent the issue of very large quantities, which would no doubt have been called for in the interim.
Mr. Calcraftsaid, it was the first time he had known government take upon itself such a responsibility, under such circumstances; and this, too, without even taking the opinion of the law officers of the Crown as to its legality. If the exigency was so pressing, a short bill ought to have been brought in; and the forms of the House might have been dispensed with. For himself, he thought the course most unjustifiable; and that it exposed the parties to actions of damages.