GENERAL SIR WILLIAM GROSSMAN (Portsmouth)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if, with reference to the recent investments of the sums of 1795 £130,000 and £200,000 on mortgage of freehold estates from Greenwich Hospital Funds, referred to by the Comptroller and Auditor General in his Report on the Capital and Income Accounts of Greenwich Hospital for the year ending 31st March, 1888, he will state what is the rate of interest to be paid on these mortgages, and what margin of security the Admiralty consider necessary in investments of this kind?
§ THE CIVIL LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT,) Sheffield, Ecclesall, who replied, said: The rate of interest to be paid on each of these mortgages is 3¾ per cent per annum, and the margin of security is over 300 per cent in the first case and over 200 per cent in the second. The margin of security considered necessary in investments of this kind is about 200 per cent.