§ MR. COHEN (Islington, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he can inform the House of the principle on which the calculation was based whereon the Governor of the Bank 278 of England fixed £2 17s. per cent. as the rate of interest in settling the annuity for the purchase of the Great India Peninsular Railway Company by the Govern merit of India.
§ * LORD G. HAMILTONThe principle is defined in the contract as follows:—".… the rate of interest which shall be used in calculating such annuity being determined by the average rate of interest during the preceding two years received in London upon public obligations of the East India Company, and which shall be ascertained by reference to the governor or deputy governor of the Bank of England for the time being." The Governor of the Bank of England was asked to state his average rate, and he replied £2 17s. per cent.