§ MR. J. MACVEAGH (Down, S.)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, with reference to the £14,055 written off by the Bank of England on the 10th instant as the value of notes issued but not presented for payment, he can state what number of years this amount covers; whether it represents the full value of notes issued but not presented in that period; at what intervals the Bank of England writes off such sums; when the last sum was written off and what period it covered; and what is the annual average of sums appropriated by the Bank of England on that account.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEOnce in every year the Bank writes off the value of the notes which have then been outstanding for forty years and have not previously been written off. In 1907 the outstanding notes dated prior to 1867 were written off. This year the outstanding notes dated prior to 1868 have been written off. Accordingly, the sum of £14,055 represents the value of the notes issued in 1867 which had not been 393 presented on 28th October last. The average of the amounts written off in the last six years was £11,794.
§ MR. J. MACVEAGHMay I take it, then, that the right hon. Gentleman was not accurately informed the other day, when he told the House that this covered a period of forty years?
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEWhat I said was that that deduction represented notes issued forty years ago.
§ MR. J. MACVEAGHI have the Answer here. It is that "the total value of the notes issued for the past forty years and not presented for repayment." The right hon. Gentleman therefore misled the House.