MR. LLOYD MORGAN (Carmarthenshire, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he will state the maximum amount of Great Indian Peninsula 5 per cent. Stock held by the Trustees of the Sinking Fund of the D Annuities of the East Indian Railway and upon what date, whether he will give the names of the Trustees of the Sinking Fund, and whether he will state upon whose authority the Great Indian Peninsula Stock was sold and upon what dates; and whether he will state upon what date he gave notice of the intention of the Government of India to exercise its right of purchasing the Great Indian Peninsula Railway.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord G. HAMILTON,) Middlesex, BalingThe management of the Sinking Fund of the D Annuities of the East Indian Railway Company is a matter in which the Secretary of State for India has no concern, and over which he has no control. From Returns published in the London Gazette it would seem that the maximum amount of Great Indian Peninsular 5 per cent. Stock held by the Trustees of the Fund was £3,544 9s. 6d., and that this amount was held by them from July 1894 to July 1898. Under the Act 55 Vict., cap. 10, the Trustees of the Deferred Annuity Holders' Sinking Fund are the Governor and the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Company for the time being. I do not know upon what authority or at what date or dates the Great Indian Peninsular Stock was sold. Notice of the intention to purchase the Great Indian Peninsular Railway was given on the 18th of August, 1899.