§ MR. SINCLAIR AYTOUNasked Mr. Solicitor General, Whether he, having stated that the Act 29 Vic., c. 5, enabled the Chancellor of the Exchequer to convert only £5,000,000 into Terminable Annuities, is not of opinion that the cancelling of £7,000,000 in exchange for the annuity of £553,887 per Act 29 Vic., c. 5, sec. 4, is illegal?
THE SOLICITOR GENERALIt is very inconvenient, Sir, to preface a Question by a statement which is altogether inaccurate. In the first place, I never made the statement in question. On looking into a printed report of the debate to see what I did say, I find the matter a great deal worse than it is put in the Question, because my argument being, on the occasion referred to, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer could not convert one single farthing of the Chancery Funds into Terminable Annuities, I find I am made to say that he could convert £5,000,000 of them, and that was a very small proportion of £60,000,000. What 840 I did state was that the Act in question related merely to the Savings Banks Funds, and did not apply to the subject of Chancery Funds at all. Then, again, it is not quite accurate to say that £7,000,000 have been converted under the 29 Vict., section 4. The conversion has been made to the extent of £5,000,000 under section 1, and to the extent of the balance converted, being a portion of the fund which arose only from the operations of the Post Office Savings Banks under section 4. After this I need hardly say that what has been done is in my opinion legal.