§
Mr. Hume moved for
Returns of the quantity of Sycee silver and other silver imported from China in her Majesty's ship Conway; the dates of the delivery of the same at the Mint; the dates of the sales of the said silver, and amount of each sale, with the price sold at; the gross charge for melting this silver; the weight of the gold extracted therefrom, and the expense of extracting the same, with an account of what commission or charge is made by any officer of the Mint for superintending the said operation; the amount which the said gold produced, and the dates of the sales. Account of the loss or gain to the state by sending the silver to the Mint, instead of selling it in the market as it arrived.
The hon. Member said his object was to know what the Government had done with the silver they had received from China. Sycee silver contained a certain quantity of gold. Out of 433l. value in Sycee silver 22l worth of gold had been obtained; out of 945l. value, 15l. 15s. of gold. He wanted to know whether sending the silver to the Mint was attended with profit or loss; he believed with loss to the public, and that the silver was also rendered much less marketable. It was important to have the result of this first
190
operation; because, the whole 20,000,000 dollars might be subjected to the same operation. He hoped no more silver would arrive, as we were overloaded at this moment with both gold and silver, and it would be much better that the silver should be sent from China to Bengal, than that it should be brought here.
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequerhad not the least objection to give the hon. Gentleman the information he wished for, except on one point, where it would not be possible to furnish it. The hon. Gentleman wished to know if loss were caused by sending the silver to the Mint instead of at once to the market. He could give the hon. Gentleman the market price for silver at the particular times; but it would have been impossible to say what depression in price might have been produced if the silver had been thrown into the market in large quantities. He could not tell what the effect of bringing it into the market might have been. It was not his fault that the silver had been remitted to this country. He had taken every means in his powor to have it sent to India; but from the rapidity with which events in China had been brought to a close, the first shipment had been made to this country.
§ Mr. Humehad not meant to impute the slightest blame to the right hon. Gentleman. The value of silver could be ascertained by the price per pound, and the return would not be complete without that.
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid the price by tale could be given, but the market price would, of course, have been much depreciated, if large quantities had been introduced at particular times.
§ Motion agreed to.
§ Adjourned to Monday, at a quarter past seven o'clock.