§ MR. TOLLEMACHEsaid, he begged to ask the hon. Under Secretary of the Treasury a question on the subject of the Antigua loan, which loan had been advanced in consequence of an earthquake in that island. A letter had been addressed to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from a gentleman who was deeply interested in the question, in which he earnestly requested that it should be allowed, as a stipulation of this loan, that the same principle should be applied to it as had been applied to the repayment of advances made in this country for the drainage of estates —namely, the creation of a terminable rent-charge of 6½ per cent, by which the principle and interest would be paid off within the period of twenty-two years. He wished to know whether the Government were prepared to comply with the earnest request contained in that letter?
§ MR. J. WILSONsaid, in reply to the question of the hon. Gentleman, that the subject was one of very considerable importance in relation to the present state of 927 the island of Antigua, and, being such, it had received the careful consideration of the Treasury. The letter to which the hon. Gentleman alluded had been received within the last few days, and was considered by the Treasury with every disposition to meet the requirements of the islands which were the subject of the loan. He wished, however, to mention to the House the circumstances under which those loans were granted. In 1843, in consequence of hurricanes which occasioned great destruction of property, the Government consented to make loans to Antigua, to Nevis, and to Montserrat, to the extent of about 150,000l., of which the loan particularly under consideration was 100,000l. The conditions upon which those loans were made were these—that after 1846 the loans should be repayable by instalments of 10 per cent each year; and in the mean time a rate of 4 per cent interest should be paid to the Treasury. In 1848 three instalments of this loan had been paid by the island of Antigua; and, in consequence of the state of the sugar plantations at that time, the Treasury consented to the postponement, or rather to the suspension, of the annual instalments for a period of five years; so that the first of the new instalments would become due on the 1st of August in the present year. The Treasury had already received upwards of 9,000l. towards the payment of that instalment and interest for the present year from Antigua, the whole amount due from that island being little more than 12,000l. The three islands, however, stood under different circumstances. Antigua had paid three years' instalments; Nevis two years' instalments; but Montserrat had paid nothing at all. Government were anxious to put all those islands upon the same footing, and that whatever concession was made to the one should be made to them all. They therefore proposed to do this. They could not consistently adopt the plan suggested in the letter referred to in respect to the drainage loans of this country, for the obvious reason that ten years had elapsed since the loans were made. What Government proposed to do was this:— Antigua having already paid upwards of 9,000l. towards the instalment due this year, they proposed that the remainder of the instalment and the interest shall be paid. They made that the condition, in order that they might be able to put all the islands on the same footing. And 928 they made the same proposal with regard to Nevis. Upon these instalments being completed, the Government proposed to reduce the rate of interest from 4 per cent to 3¼ per cent; and they further proposed to reduce the instalments upon the capital from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. He must inform the House that the Government made two conditions to secure this plan. The Government charged upon those loans 4 per cent, but the Commissioners upon the islands charged the planters 5 per cent, the difference being for the management of the loan. Now, in as much as the Government were making a concession at this time to the islands, they thought that they ought to call on the local government to discharge this duty for nothing, as it gave them very little trouble; so that the relief to the planter would be, not merely-from 4 per cent to 3¼ per cent, but from 5 per cent to 3¼, besides the prolongation of the term for the repayment of the capital. The other condition of the Government was, that in the event of these moderate instalments to the Treasury not being strictly and properly carried out, they shall have the power to revert back to the original conditions upon which the loans were granted. With regard to Montserrat, the Treasury had instructed the Colonial Office to write to the Governor, informing him of the terms that they had offered to the other islands, and stating that they were about to make the same concession to that island, provided it paid its instalments up to the present year.
§ MR. TOLLEMACHEsaid, he wished to know when these instructions were to be sent out?
§ MR. J. WILSONsaid, the instructions were ordered to be sent out to the Governors of the different islands by the next mail.