§ Commons' Amendments considered.
§ Moved, "That this House doth agree to the Commons' Amendments."—(The Lord Monkswell.)
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Lord KNUTSFORD)said, he desired to draw attention to the omission of Clause 9. The main argument against allowing trustees to invest in Colonial securities had been that there was no check to prevent a Colony from issuing new loans to any amount. To meet this objection an automatic clause had been prepared, and had passed in their Lordships' House. That clause in effect provided that Colonial securities could not be bought except at a certain price, but doubts had been raised as to whether that clause was sufficient in its terms. There was not time to consider those objections fully; but, at the same time, as the other clauses of the Bill were of very great importance to trustees, it had been thought best not to let the Bill drop. It had, therefore, been de-decided to omit Clause 9. It would, however, be a great mistake to suppose that any reflection was cast upon Colonial securities by this action; and, indeed, the market price of those securities was a sufficient answer to any such supposition. The Chancellor of the Exchequer in the other House had expressed a strong hope that no such doubt would be thrown upon Colonial securities by this action, and he also had expressed a hope, in which he (Lord Knutsford) heartily joined, that before next Session some solution would be found by which the difficulty with regard to Colonial securities might be removed.
§ Motion agreed to.