§ MR. CUBITTsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether the statement of the capital of the Funded and Unfunded Debt issued on April 5th, in which it was stated that the total debt of the Country on March 31st was £801,406,563, included the seven millions of stock which was created for the purchase of the telegraphs; and, if so, how it arises that the funded debt according to this Return has increased within the year by a sum of £402,043 only; and if this result has been caused by cancelling any stock held on behalf of the Court of Chancery, what is the total amount of stock which has been so cancelled; what, if any, are the liabilities undertaken by the Exchequer in respect of such stock, and whether the stock appropriated for the construction of the New Courts of Justice has been included in the amount cancelled, or has been separately treated?
§ MR. STANSFELDSir, my hon. Friend asks me whether the statement of the total Debt of the country on March 31—namely, £801,406,563—includes the £7,000,000 of stock created for the purchase of the telegraphs; and what I have to say is that the £7,000,000 of stock for the purchase of the telegraphs is included in that amount. The reason of the small difference between the capital stock of the funded debt on the 31st of March and its amount during last year—that difference being only £402,043—is this, as in fact the Question seems to imply, that the stocks which have been held connected with the Chancery and Bankruptcy funds have been cancelled and converted into a book debt. The amount of stock so cancelled did not include a sum of £1,000,000 to be appropriated for the construction of the new Courts of Justice. The liabilities of the Exchequer, with reference to these Chancery and Bankruptcy stocks, are not in any way affected by their conversion into a book debt.