§ The Earl of Riponmoved the Third Pleading of the Banking (Scotland) Bill,
§ Objected to: and after a short discussion (in which the Earl of Radnor, the Duke of Richmond, and the Earl of Rosebery took part against the Bill), on Question, That "now" stand part of the Motion, House divided: — Content 47; Not-content 15: Majority 32.
1343§ Resolved in the Affirmative: Bill read 3a. accordingly and passed.
§ The following Protest against the Third Reading of the Banking (Scotland) Bill was entered on the Journals.
- "I. Because I can see no possible benefit likely to result from this Bill, and none has been stated in debate, except in the event of such an emergency as has never yet occurred, which, in my opinion, it is rather calculated to occasion, and which it supplies no new means of meeting.
- "II. Because it will at once check, and ultimately put an end to, that competition which has heretofore existed amongst the banks of Scotland, and which has rendered banking remarkable for cheapness, efficiency, and safety, and highly beneficial to all the interests in that country.
- "III. Because, though I consider the evils hence resulting quite certain, they will not be considered so palpable as to invite or suggest a repeal of this law. They will not exhibit themselves by any calamity, or produce any immediate distress, but they will silently prevent that advance to prosperity which might otherwise have been attained. If similar provisions had been enacted twenty years ago, it is evident that Scotland would not have enjoyed the advantages which are universally admitted to have resulted from its banking system; but no one would have known that but for those enactments it would have been more prosperous; in like manner, hereafter, as no one will be able to say what would have been the state of the country if this Bill had not passed, so no one will be able to trace the amount of evil which it will have produced, or of good which it will have prevented.
§ "For the first reason,
§ "ROSEBERY."