Mr. John Twells said: In 1783 there was a great pressure, and in the years 1793, 1794, and 1795. From 1793 to 1797, the pressure was very extreme. In 1797 gold was first allowed to be exported, and to be used up by the jewellers, which was prohibited before. In 1816 we passed from a conjoint standard of silver and gold to a gold standard only. The banknote was then not convertible. The oscillations in the rates of discount were not so frequent then as they are now. The regular rate was 5 per cent., this continued from 1800 to 1822; in 1793 the Bank of England began to issue 5. notes.

In 1797, the distress was great. A few months before 1797, King George III., in going to the House of Lords, was hooted and insulted a good deal. Taxation was collected with great difficulty. In 1800, there was a great scarcity of corn. In 1797, in consequence of the Bank Restriction Act, several gigantic works were commenced, such as the East and West India Docks, and the Grand Junction Canal. The country had now got an instrument of exchange, which gave them as it were tools to work with with confidence. Subsequently to that, upon the passing of the Act of 1816 and 1819, there was great distress. If you compare the dates, and the state of the country, you may see cause and effect following each other with very great exactness. Whenever there has been a plentiful issue, there has been prosperity; withdraw it, and you find distress. In 1823 again, the distress was caused by the export of gold. In 1826, the distress was very great, owing to an alteration in the time of issuing small notes. That continued down to 1830. Then arose the panic in 1836 and 1837, which also took place in consequence of the irregularity in the currency. From 1819 the rates have changed from forty to fifty times. Before that period we had no changes.

In answer to the question, "How do you think that the Act of 1844 has operated?" Mr. Twells answered: "If I were to answer you as a banker, I should say that it has operated exceedingly well, for it has afforded a rich harvest to bankers and capitalists of all kinds, but it has operated very badly to the honest industrious tradesman, who requires steadiness in the rate of discount, that he may be enabled to make his arrangements with confidence; it must distress that class very much indeed. For large capitalists and bankers it is evident (there is no occasion to disguise the thing) that it has operated exceedingly well; it has made money-lending a most profitable pursuit for them. It enabled the London joint-stock banks to return from 18 to 20 per cent. to their proprietors. They ought to support the Act of 1844 very strongly. But it pinches the tradesmen, and respectable merchants who have not a large capital, and this is evident from the amazing quantity of their acceptances unpaid."

The 14,000,000l. now issued against securities, should bear upon them the mark of the basis upon which they are issued. Instead of being promises to pay, they should be promises to receive in aid of all the taxes. There would then be only 4,000,000l. or 5,000,000l. or 6,000,000l. probably

issued upon gold. Perhaps then the issue of Exchequer notes might be for 20,000,000. There is a great variety of opinions of the present system among the commercial public. Many are very much discontented, and many prudent, cautious, respectable persons, have withdrawn very much indeed. Others are carrying on a prodigious trade in exports and imports, to an extent far beyond what their capital justifies them in doing. The country bank circulation is now in a very satisfactory state. There are between 200 and 300 country banks, their average circulation does not amount to 30,000l. each. But they deal in bills of exchange to the extent of 120,000,000l. or 130,000,000l.

The Government notes might be issued by the Bank of England. It would be necessary to alter the words, instead of I promise to pay, and insert something of the same kind as is inserted in an Exchequer bill payable for receipts of taxes. This issue would prevent a drain of bullion, when it is required, and would give us a domestic currency, uninfluenced by any foreign transactions whatever. The value of the note would only be its passing for 51. for taxes. The term pound is a term of account. It is only recently that we have had the sovereigns which represent the pound. The pound was but a piece of paper with a superscription which gave it a value in the country, payable for all taxes. The pound in the time of Edward the First was worth 20s. 3d. In the 18th Edward III. it was 22s., and in the 20th of Edward III. it was made 22s. 6d. In the 27th Edward III. it was made 25s., and in the 56th George III. it was made 66s. The depreciation of the assignats in France was produced by the excess of issue. The amount of them was 300,000,000l.: they could not receive them back; they could not get their taxation on account of the revolution, which was going on, therefore the assignats fell to nothing.

Mr. David Barclay Chapman said, that in the rate of discount for mercantile paper, the market rate is affected by the Bank rate, and the Bank rate is also at times affected by the market rate. When the demand for money is so considerable that the public have recourse to the Bank, the Bank have then the power very much of regulating the rate. When the quantity of notes in the hands of the public is low, then the Bank has a greater command of discount. It would be very undesirable to supersede the country banks' issue. The Bank has quite enough to do. The Act of 1844 has great merits as well as some defects. It places the issue of the circulating medium upon a definite basis, which is extremely desirable. The provision of the Act which regulates the issues is a good one. Legislative provision ought also to be made, which would require a given rate of interest according to the state of the bullion, that matter being at present at the discretion of Bank. When the bullion is 10,000,000l. the rate should be 5 per cent. and so on. The rate the bills of exchange float at is 100,000,000Z. to 120,000,000l. Whenever the circulation, which generally averages between 18,500,000l. and 19,500,000l., falls much below that amount, there ought to be a power lodged somewhere to give the relief required to carry

on the settlement of the monetary concerns of the country. This power should not be lodged with the Bank directors. The auxiliary issue should then be made under a certain increasing rate of interest, governed by the decreasing amount of bullion.

Mr. Edward Capps said, that the general practice at present in the building trade is to build upon a large scale relying upon the demand for houses, when they have been built, and raising money upon mortgage as the buildings proceeded. Almost the whole of Belgravia and Tyburnia are built upon that principle. The money is thus principally borrowed. The present law influences the building trade, in the uncertainty of being able to carry through any undertaking. When you take a large plot of ground, involving perhaps the building of 100 or 200 houses, that undertaking cannot be got through in a moment. Perhaps you may have five or seven years given you; you may build perhaps ten houses a year, but before the undertaking is advanced much, a panic comes, and the means of carrying it out may be withdrawn, and all that you have laid out sacrificed. He thought the whole of our monetary system is wrong. We have got a wrong kind of pound, to begin with. He concurred with Mr. Twells' suggestion as to the issue of 20,000,000l. of inconvertible paper. present system is unsound for the following reasons:

The

First, because the currency, as an indispensable tool, or instrument of daily and hourly use, ought not, if it can be avoided, to be of such a nature as to render it liable to be withdrawn from its proper sphere of usefulness and action, for the sake of the material of which it is composed, putting thereby the subsistence of tens of thousands in jeopardy.

Secondly, because you cannot accomplish with it an object which it is essential to accomplish in any country wherein direct taxation is much employed to raise a revenue, viz., the repayment to the producers of goods of the taxation which those goods bear without increasing the metallic price of them.

Thirdly, because gold is not the natural standard of value, as this system assumes, but a convenient measure of value only.`

Fourthly, because the metallic pound was unknown in this country until Sir Robert Peel established it.

Fifthly, because the circulation founded upon these principles is incapable of that necessary degree of expansion, which the constantly increasing quantities of goods render indispensable.

Sixthly and lastly, because it hinders the production of wealth, and forbids the creation of that ample stock of all kinds of commodities which the people want to consume, and which their own labour would provide for them if they were not frustrated in their attempts, by the breaking down of the money system, as soon as their activities became fully engaged in production.

RATES OF DISCOUNT FOR FIRST-CLASS BILLS AT THE UNDERMENTIONED PERIODS BROUGHT BEFORE THE COMMITTEE BY MR. CHAPMAN.

N. B. Those with an asterisk* denote 60 days; those with a daggert 90 days.

EXCISE AND CUSTOMS.

Return to an Order of the House of Commons, dated 25th May, 1857, for A Return of the Annual Charge upon the Public Income, for the Collection of the Excise and Custom Duties since 1851, and the Number of Men employed in those Departments, on the 5th day of January, in each year; together with the Names of any Articles on which the Duties have been repealed, and the Amount of such Duties (Lord John Manners. (201, Sess. 2.)

IN 1852-3 the annual charge upon the public income for the collecting of Excise duties was 661,6847. The number of men employed was 5,464. In 1853-54 the annual charge was 674,968, number of men 5,153. On that

year the soap duty was repealed, amounting to 1,170,000l. In 1854-55 the charge was 666,175l., number of men, 5,369. In 1855-56 the charge was 766,449., number of men, 5,429. In 1856-57 the charge was 702,455l., number of men, 5,449. In that year, the Malt (war) Tax was abolished, 2,200,000l.

In 1852-53 the annual charge upon the public income for the collection of customs-duties was, exclusive of Coast-Guard, 776,8681., Coast-Guard, 471,859%, total 1,248,727., number of men employed exclusive of coast guard 5,009. In 1853-54 the total amount of charge was 1,285,1617. number of men 5,077. In 1854-55 charge, 1,236,0877., number of men 5,373. In 1855-56 the charge was 1,257,247., number of men, 5,485; and in 1856-57, the amount of charge was 1,107,554l., number of men, 5,570. In 1853-54, the customs-duties on a good number of articles were abolished to the extent of 83,971. In 1854-55, and 1855-56 some further reductions were introduced.

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE.

Return to an Order of the House of Commons, dated 14th July, 1857, for

1.-AN ACCOUNT OF THE GROSS PUBLIC INCOME OF THE UNited KingdoM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND,

In the Year ended the 30th day of June, 1857, and of the Actual Issues or Payments within the same Period, including Exchequer Bonds redeemed, but exclusive of other sums applied to the Redemption of Funded or paying off Unfunded Debt, and of the Advances and Repayments for Local Works, &c. (Mr. Wilson.) (176, Sess. 2.)