§ MR. WILLIAM ABRAHAM (Cork County, N. E.)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that the Bank Act of 1892 deals only with the remuneration to be paid the Banks of England and Ireland for their management of the Debt, and in relation to Exchequer Bonds and Treasury Bills; and if he will state what arrangements, outside the Act, have been made between the Treasury and the Bank of Ireland in respect of the benefit derived by that bank from the use of Government balances which, in the ordinary course, it lends out to its customers at interest.
§ CAPTAIN DONELAN (Cork, E.)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in connection with the terms of the arrangement made by the Government with the Bank of Ireland under which special consideration was given to the benefit derived by the bank from the use of the Government balances, it was agreed that the same arrangement was to extend to all banking business and to all future balances arising out of the operation of any and every Act of Parliament that might be passed after the date of such arrangement; and, if so, will he 1158 state what are the specific terms of the arrangement now subsisting.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The remuneration payable under The Bank Act, 1892, to the Bank of Ireland for management of the Public Debt was fixed after an inquiry which extended to all the transactions of the bank on behalf of the Government. The remuneration was fixed at such rates as, together with the benefit accruing from the use of the Government balances, was thought to be sufficient to afford the bank fair payment for its work both in managing the Debt and in keeping the public accounts. The arrangement of 1892 contemplated that the Government accounts in Dublin should continue to be kept with the Bank of Ireland as they had been for many years before. No specific agreement on that point was required.