The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-22 00:00:00

[PRICE SD.

COMMERCIAL DISTRESS.

The Secret Committee "appointed to inquire into
:he causes of the recent commercial distress, and how

far it has been affected by the laws for regulating the
issue of Bank-notes payable on demand," have
agreed to the following (their first) report :
In obedience to the order of the House, your Com-
mittee have inquired into the matters referred to them,
and, having concluded their investigation so far as re-
lates to England, have thought it advisable to report to
the House their opinion on this branch of the subject,
together with the evidence.
To complete the labour intrusted to them, the inquiry
must be extended to Scotland and Ireland, and the Com-
mittee will proceed on this duty without delay.
During the period of difficulty, deputations from
Liverpool
YourßirminghamC had communicated with the
ommittee therefore thought it
commence their inquiry by examining Mr.
Hodgson and Mr. Turner from Liverpool, and Mr.
bes Government.
to
Muntz and Mr. Salt from Birmingham.
Mr. Gurney, an eminent bill-broker, Mr. Bates, of
the firm of Baring Brothers, and Mr. Beavan, a London
banker, and selected by the London bankers, were ex-
amined by the Committee, more especially with respect
Ar
rF. ucllo
to the distress and difficulty which had been experienced
in the metropolis.
theth eCom returnsnt
Mr. Birkbeck, a private banker, selected by the country
bankers, and Mr. Pease, connected with the northern
coal districts, were also examined in the course of our
t oinvestigations.nhwaevidencesh who
svvoa s
_ respectingg o v e
rthe o r proceedingso
the_
-Bank
a nokf the:ti IBanks 44.
director, by the governor and deputy governor and by
informationwer e given
to
The Bank tewehbiychMwr.ilHl obreslefyouPnadlminert,hae
I furnished to the Committee much
Appendix.

Took,
have and
giveneoli ripe aaTry muchma y
el
at-
tentionnor
Lastly, the CojirionmeisttLeoytdh,oulfrhtit advisable to call be-
fore
are well known.
been a general concurrence of opinion
witnesses examined beforewyasour Committee,
amongst
m There
gentlemen t
gehsre
ten thhMwea
shr .
in
the
deficient
means of
of
to
to our monetary system.
that the primary cause of the distress
especiallyneoessity ofof the
providingpotato
tcrop,hem
drthveethsyte'ear 1847, for the unprecedented importationsihannalB46,
various descriptions of food which took
year. Pi in that
Among other causes, the deficient supply of cotton
the diversion of capital from its ordinary employment
in commercial transactions to the construction of
railroads, the undue extension of credit, especially in
our transactions with the East, and exaggerated ex-
pectations of enlarged trade, have been stated, by some
of the witnesses, as having constributed to the same
result.
Your Committee see no reason to doubt that these
causes have in different degrees, in different parts of
the country, produced the effect thus ascribed to
them.
For the further development of the views enter-
tained on these various points by the gentlemen whom
they have examined, they must refer to the evidence.
With regard to some of the circumstances above re-
ferred to, provision has already been made by Parlia-
ment, and it must be obvious that others are beyond the
control of legislative enactment.
Many of the witnesses, including the Governor and
Deputy-Governor of the Bank of England, have ex-
pressed their belief that earlier steps in the autumn of
1846, and the spring of 1847, on the part of the Bank of
England, might have obviated the necessity for the more
stringent measures which circumstances compelled the
directors to adopt in April, and might thus have pre-
veated the alarm which was caused by those measures.
The grounds on which that belief is entertained, toge-
ther with the considerations which influenced the pro-
ceedings of the bunk, are explained in the evidence of
those witnesses who were examined on this 'branch of
the subject. It is one in respect to which a wide discre-
tion must necessarily be left with those who are charged
with the management of the business of the Bank, and
your committee trust that this discretion will be exer-
cised with due prudence, if similar circumstances should
again occur.
An opinion appears to have been entertained by
some persons, though not by the Governor and Deputy-
Governor of the Bank of Engl•rnd, that the Bank is
released by the Act of 1844 from any obligation, ex-
cept that of consulting the pecuniary interests of its
proprietors.
It is true that there are no restrictions imposed by
law upon the discretion of the Bank, in respect to the
conduct of the b inking as distinguished from the issue
department.. But the Bank is a public institution, pos-
sessed of special and exclusive privileges, standing in
a peculiar relation to the Government, and exercising,
from the magnitude of itst resources, great influence over
the general mercantile and monetary transactions of the
country.
These circumstances impose upon the Bank the duty
of a consideration of the public interest, not indeed en-
acted or defined by law, but which Parliament, in its
various transactions with the Bank, has always recog-
nized, and which the Bank has never disclaimed.

It is unnecessary to impose such duty by law, es
there can be little doubt that the permanent interests
of the Bank are identified with those of the public at
large.
That identity of interest gives both to the public and
to the proprietors of Bank stock a deep interest in every
measure calculated to ensure an enlightened administra-
tion of the affairs of the Bank.

Your Committee have learnt, therefore, with satisfac-
tion that the attention of the court of directors has been
given to this subject, and that a change has been made
by them, as to the selection of the governor and deputy-
governor, calculated, in the opinion of your Committee,
to improve the constitution of the governing body of the
Bank.

They feel confident that the effect of this change, and
the experienced which has been acquired during the
events of the last two years, will ensure to the public in
the future management of the Bank of England greater
benefits from this national establishment than it has
hitherto been the means of conferring upon the country.
Your Committee have received with deep regret
from many witnesses evidence of the extent of loss in-
curred by commercial houses in the course of last
autumn, from an unprecedented combination of the cir-
cumstances above referred to, and seriously aggravated
by the want of confidence which prevailed in cense-
qeence of the numerous failures, and which induced
bankers and others to retain a reserve both of gold and
of bank notes to a very great extent. It is to be ob-
served that this took place with a very large amount of
notes in the hands of the public, exceeding, in the
opinion of a witness most competent to form an
opinion, by no less than 4,000,000/., " the actual re-
quirements of the public at the time."
The feeling of alarm which prevailed appears to have
been immediately removed by the issue of the letter
addressed to the Bank of England, on the 25th of Oc-
tober, by the First Lord of the Treasury and the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer.
The issue of that letter was, no doubt, an extraordi-
nary exercise of power on the part of the Government;
but the House has decided that, in the peculiar circum-
stances of the period, they were justified in taking that
step. It will be seen, from the evidence of Mr. Cotton,
the Governor of the Bank in 1844, that the possibility
of circumstances arising in which some extraordinary
measures might be called for in consequence of a state
of monetary crisis, was not unforeseen by the Govern-
ment at the time when the Act of 1844 was passed.
The evidence which has been given as to the effects of
the Act of 1844 has been contradictory. Its beneficial
effects, es regards the issue of the country banks, have
been admitted by many of the witnesses, and although
somef have suggested an alteration of its provisions, very
ew have contested the general principles on which it is
founded.
whYoomurthCeorrnesmpiotnteseiblityve had under their consideration,
whether it is advisable that powers should be conferred
by law upon the Government, to enable them to meet
the occurrence of any circumstance which may call l'or
extraordinary interference; but they have come to the
the time, to adopt such measuresi
conclusion that, looking to the impossibility of foreseeing
at
what the precise character of the circumstances may be,
and also what may be the measure bust calculated to
meet them, it is more expedient to leave to those with
best suited for the emergency.
Your committee, therefore, after a careful review of
all the evidence, are of opinion that it is not expedient
to make any alteration in the Bank Act of 1844.
June 8, 1848. the Government
may
appear m a y
troe
themst

THE RESIGNATION or THE REV. SIR H. R.DULIN-
YIELD.—On Tuesday
a meeting of the inhabitants of
the parish of St•
vestry-room adjoining the church, for the purpose of
takinginto consideration the propriety of presenting an
address to the Rev. Sir H. R. Dukinfield, Bart., the
vicar, on his resignation. Mr. P. Palmer, the senior
churchwarden, having taken the chair, Dr. Gold-
ing,Martin-in-the-Fields was held in the
of Charing-cross Hospital ; Mr. Dalton, late
churchwarden; the Duke of Leinster; Mr. Cobbett,
chairman of the board of guardians; the Rev. J. G. Gif-
ford, incoumbent, of St. Matthew, Spring-gardens; the
Hon.. P. Bouverie, and other gentlemen, addressed the
meeting expressive of their regret at the resignation
of the Rev. Gentleman, who, during the thirteen years
he had been vicar of the parish, had done so
much good, especially among the poor, by the
establishment of institutions of the most valu-
able description for their benefit. Mr. Wilson, on
the part of the Dissenters of the parish, begged to ex-
press their regret at the loss the
parish had sustained
by the retirement of Sir Henry Dukinfield, whose con-
duct in presiding over the meetings held in that room
when party spirit ran high had endeared him to all.—
(Hear, hear.) An address to the reverend gentleman,
written by the: lion. W. E. Gladstone,
M.P., was than
unanimously adopted, and the meeting separated.
The Duke of Leeds sent two horses, Magnet and
Conceit, and with two of Lord Strathmore's, left Lon-
don for Holland yesterday morning, by the Rainbow
steamer, to run at the races which commence at the Loo
ou Tuesday next.