§ Order for Committee read.
§ SIR HENRY WILLOUGHBYsaid, he wished to call attention to what he considered to be two serious defects in the Bill. The one was the omission of a provision respecting the property of minors; the other was the want of a more convenient arrangement respecting the signature of trustees in the case of the paying out deposits.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, he merely proposed that they should go into Committee pro formâ, and he did not intend to proceed with the consideration of the clauses until he had seen the deputations which he believed intended to wait upon him on the subject.
§ MR. HUBBARDsaid, that the Two-and-a-half per Cent stock, one of the species of stock which it was proposed to invest the funds in, stood at a less value by three-quarters per cent than the Three per Cent Reduced, or Three per Cent Consols. The Terminable Annuities also was not a favourite stock. He thought that the Bill ought to be confined to its three first clauses, and that the other two were not consistent with the declared object of the measure. If the Government chose to diminish the public debt, it should be done in a fair and open manner and with the intention of discharging the debt. He had a very strong objection to misleading the country by falsely discharging the debt under the name of an annuity.
§ Bill considered in Committee.
§ House resumed.
§ Committee report Progress; to sit again To morrow.