§ MR. WOOTTON ISAACSON (Tower Hamlets, Stepney)asked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether he can include in the Conversion Scheme a clause by which annuitants of from £20 to £100 per annum shall be provided against any loss in their income, thereby preventing distress and embarrassment, by increasing their poverty, of widows, many with children to support, and other poor people wholly dependent upon small annuities?
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GOSCIIEN) (St. George's, Hanover Square) ,in reply, said, if the hon. Member had followed the course of the Bill dealing with the Conversion of the National Debt, he would have seen that all that could be done had been done by enabling Trustees, with regard to these annuities, to vary the investment, and to invest in the proceeds of such Stock as was liable to conversion into Stocks sanctioned by the Court of Chancery, beyond which it was impossible to go.