§ MR. ALDERMAN SALOMONSsaid, he had given notice of the following Question, which he wished to put to Mr. Chancellor 2003 of the Exchequer—"Whether his attention has been directed to the Bank of England Return, published in The Gazette of Friday last, in so far as regards a diminution of notes in the hands of the Bank, and an addition to those in circulation; and whether he could give any information as to the report that this has not been produced by the ordinary requirements of trade, but by some concerted action on the Bank's Reserve, to produce a disturbance in the Currency of the Country." The proper use of the currency was a matter which not only interested the metropolis, and banks and bankers here, but it affected every part of the country, and all engaged in the operations of commerce. At the beginning of this year the rate of discount was 2½ per cent; on the 19th January it was advanced to 3 per cent; on the 31st January to 4 per cent, and at the end of March to 4½. The reserve of the Bank of England then stood at £8,083,000. On the 4th April, although there had been no alteration in the rate of discount, the reserve had diminished to £6,842,000. Last Thursday the rate of discount was raised to 5 per cent, and the figures in The Gazette of Saturday showed that the Bank reserve had fallen from near £7,000,000 to under £5,000,000, This astonishing diminution in the reserve naturally attracted considerable attention and caused much inquiry as to its cause. Last Saturday the well-informed and intelligent writer of the "City Article" of The Times announced that the diminution had not arisen from any extraordinary demand upon the Bank in the ordinary operations of trade; but from some concerted action on the part of the discount houses, by which a large amount of notes had been taken from the Bank and withdrawn from circulation; and that statement was confirmed in The Times of Monday last. It appeared to him that a charge of that kind—an amount which, from the analogy of previous years, would require the rate of discount to be 6 per cent and upwards. A charge of that kind was so disparaging to the character of London, and so injurious to the monetary interests, that he had thought it his duty, as connected with a large banking establishment, to ask this question, with a view to ascertain, on behalf of the public at large, whether there was any truth in the rumour that, by concert, a quantity of bank notes had been withdrawn from circulation and locked up in a box, where they were of 2004 no use to anybody. The public were now told that two days since the very same notes—£1,000 notes—had been returned to the Bank. He hoped the Chancellor of the Exchequer would be able to throw some light on the transaction.