SECOND READING. (Hansard, 25 July 1882)

§ MR. FAWCETT

said, it would not be necessary for him to keep the House 1819 more than a few minutes in moving the second reading of this Bill. The Bill simply embodied the unanimous proposals of a Select Committee appointed at the commencement of the Session. That Committee was a representative one, embracing Representatives not only of each Party, but of almost every section in the House. Although the Bill embodied the unanimous proposals of that Committee, he found that there was one portion of the Bill to which considerable objection was raised, and that was a proposal to increase the maximum of insurance to £200, and make the maximum of annuities £200 also. Although he was extremely reluctant to relinquish that portion of the Bill, which was unanimously approved of by the Committee, he felt that at that period of the Session it would be perfectly useless to persevere with the provision in face of the opposition with which he had to contend. Therefore, as he had already stated, if he was allowed to get into Committee on the Bill, he would himself propose to alter the maximum of insurance and annuities to £100; and, if the Bill was now read a second time, he had Amendments which could be at once placed on the Paper, He thought hon. Members interested in the subject would see that he had faithfully carried out his promise. There was another portion of the Bill which was objected to by the bankers—namely, Clause 7; and it had been suggested, by a Circular which the country bankers had issued, that the Government were proposing, by a side-wind, to raise the amount allowed to be annually deposited in the Post Office Savings Banks. Nothing was further from his intention than that. He felt strongly that if the limit of the Savings' Banks' deposits was to be increased, it ought to be increased in an open and intelligent way, and not by a side-wind. But, to remove all doubts on the point, he had prepared an Amendment to Clause 7, which, he believed, would completely remove the objection of the bankers to this provision. If it did not, he should be ready to adopt any suggestion with the object of carrying out more fully their wishes on the subjcet. He hoped that those remarks would show that he had been anxious, as far as possible, to meet the wishes of those who objected to the Bill.

§ MR. WARTON

said, as the hon. Member for Wolverhampton (Mr. H. Fowler) and himself had felt it their duty to oppose the Bill in its original state, he was exceedingly obliged to the Postmaster General for the consideration he bad given to their objections, because, in its original state, the Bill seemed to interfere with the Insurance Companies, and to put a considerable risk on the Exchequer, inasmuch as the amount by which it was proposed to alter the annuities was very considerable. He was also obliged to him with regard to the objections raised by the country bankers. But he had to make a practical suggestion, and that was that, if the opposition was withdrawn to the Bill, the right hon. Gentleman would give some time, three or four days say, for the consideration of the Amendments which he had now proposed in regard to bankers and Insurance Companies. He made this proposal in perfect good faith and with the best intentions, and wished to offer no opposition to the Bill.