§ COLONEL MUREwished to put a question to the right hon. Baronet the Chancellor of the Exchequer, of which he had given him notice. The House was aware that the provisions of the Bank Act of 1844, while they comprehended the provincial banks of England, did not extend to the banking systems of either Scotland or Ireland, a separate Act having been passed with reference to those countries in the Session of 1845; and he wished to ask whether it were the intention of the Government that the Committee for which the right hon. Baronet intended to move to-morrow should take up the question of the monetary system of Scotland and Ireland in connexion with the monetary system of England, or whether it were their intention that the monetary system of the two former countries should form the subject of a separate inquiry?
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERreplied, that if the hon. Gentleman referred to the words of his notice, he would see that it was general. He proposed that the Committee for which he intended to move should inquire how far the recent commercial distress had been affected by the laws for regulating the issue of bank-notes payable on demand.