Earl Grosvenorsaid, he could not allow the session to close without calling the attention of their lordships to a subject of great importance. 1480 He alluded to the liability of country banks to pay their notes in gold. As the law was at present, the summary process which formerly might issue against bankers was abolished: and, as the subject was one which would create great anxiety, he thought it would be advisable to pass a short act, even during the present session, restoring the summary process.
The Earl of Liverpoolsaid, that the holders of notes had a better remedy than could be given by any new act, in the law and the practice of banking credit as it now stood. There could be no doubt that country bankers were bound to pay in the current coin of the realm; and the responsibility of not doing so threatened consequences to a banking establishment of good credit, much more weighty than a new act of parliament could enforce.
§ Lord Clifdencomplained of the conduct of the Bank of Ireland, which paid its notes in guineas, instead of sovereigns, in order to discourage the demand for gold. The guineas were not current at present; and those who received them were at a loss how to dispose of them.