§ MR. DYCE NICOLsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, Whether the Bombay Government has been authorized to take shares in, and resume a connection with, a new Bank similar to that existing with the institution now being wound up under Act 19 of 1857 of Legislative Council of India; whether, as stated in a recent Memorial of Shareholders, £2,000,000 had been lost of the original capital of £2,090,000 of that establishment; and if he will lay before the House the whole of the Correspondence connected with the liquidation of the old and the reconstruction of the new Bank of Bombay?
§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEIt is the case, Sir, that the Bombay Government has been authorized to take shares in the new Bank of Bombay, and to resume a Government connection with it. The connection is not to be precisely the same as that which existed with the previous Bank; because I believe it will be more convenient to appoint a Government Inspector with sufficient powers than to have Government Directors. But that is a point still under consideration. With regard to the amount of loss of capital, I am not able to say exactly whether the statement to which the hon. Gentleman refers is accurate or not. The Memorial of which he speaks is, I suppose, the Memorial still in preparation, which has not yet been sent to the India Office. I suppose a very large amount of capital has been lost, but the extent of it I am not able to give. With regard to the Correspondence, I shall be prepared to lay it before the House.