The Sun.
London, England, 1820-06-14 00:00:00

PUBLIC BALANCES.

IMr. GesalFece, in I i lig. to move that certain
papers p'eseutcd to the iloose relative to ,he Be-
-1 laaccs in the hands of the Bank should be printed
said, the warfare which lie, on public ground,,,
had so tong carried on against that Corporation,
was now io a great measure at an end, in conse-
quence of the adoptiou by Patliatnent of certrsin
principles -of whinh be had ever been the advocate.
1r bad, been proved by documents for which he
had moved, and whica were now before the
House, that doting a 'period of ten or twelve years
the Bank had beetr in possession, he might say
in undisturucd possecsioti, of s:-Ms.:belonging to
the pablib, the average amount at which was be.
twe.en 11 and 12,000,0001. Thy profit. on this
• sum, at the Tate of interest paid for money during
that period, amounted to not less than 575,0001.
outunally. It. could not now be cooteorted that
this had occasioned no loss to the public, and that
the Bank had not made greater profits than
.pri-
vote bankers would have expected for transact-
ing the same business.
.The statement which he
had made was borne out by the Report of the
Committee which sat in 1807. He however now
held papers io his hand, fronr which it appeared
that the balances in the hands of-the *anis, which
as be had stated amounted 'for' a tone period w-
oo- less than 11 ,500.0001. had in 1819 been re-
duced to '4,500',0001. being a reduction of no
less than 7,000,0001. On • looking into the
accounts tor the present year, .he found that a
further -diminution of the balances bad been
effected, and Allah tile total sum now remaining
in the hands of- the Bank as balances did .not.
exceed 3.700,0001. .This greatly reduced the ex-
pence which had fallen on the•public oct account
of the Bank, and, diminished the profits of
the Bank in proportion. The change had been.
brought about by the contraction of the accounts
in consequence of our passing from a state of war
to a state of peace, and by the attention which
Government had bestowed on the subject for the
last four or five years. It was partly caused by
the arrangement made respecting tmclaimed divi-
(lends, which matte all sums remaining in the
hands of the Bank over and above-100,0001, ap-
plicable to the public service, and by the Act for
applying the growito,,, produce of the Consolidated
Fund in a similar way. During the •period he.
had mentioned, the lisnk had, with certain ex-
ceptions, held in their hands public balances "to
die amount of 11,500,0001, on the average.
These, reduced to four millions and a half in the
last year, were now, as he had already stated,
somewhat below four millions. It was now his
object to invite the Chancellor of the Exchequer
to consider whether in the present, he would not
say alarming, but anxious and critical situation of
our finances, some practical measure of retrench-
ment might not be adopted by which a further
saving could be effected. His own opinion was,
that without any injustice to the Bank, a further
saving of no less than 100,0001. might be saved.
'He moved, that the paper showing the aggregate
amount of the balances in the hands of the Bank
should be printed.
Mr. Pizeitss said, it was (rile that the balances
in the hands of the Bank had amounted to
11, 500,0001., but the Bank had not profited, nor
had the public sustained a loss to the extent
assumed by the Hon. Gentleman. In consequence
of the balances in the hands of the Bank, the
public had been relieved from the expence of the
management of the National Debt for a number
of years. But when an arrangement had been
made with the Bank by which their profits were
diminished, the balances were gradually reduc-
ed to 7, 6,-5,000,0001., and had now been
brought down to about three millions and
a half. It might have occurred to the Hon.
Gentleman that very great expenses had been borne
by the Bank. He might have borne in mind,
that a large sum was paid to the public on the re-
newal of their charter, and that the issuing of
tokens for their accommodation bad cost them no
lees than 700,0001. The Corporation had actually
paid to the Mint 104,0001. for the coinage of the
tokens. He (Mr. Grenfell) might also have re-
collected, that the Bank he'd advanced for the
public service the sum of 3,000,0001., for which
they received but three per cent. interest, while
five per. cent. was paid on the' other loans raised
for the public. In this instance the animal sum
of 60,000 pounds, was saved to the country, and
the Bank sustained a disadvantage to that amouat.
The Bank too, it should • be remembered, bad

A direct communication
.has just been opened
from Cambridge, Newmarket, Bury, and Ely, to
Wisbech, and into Lincolnshire, by a .road from
Welney across the Wash, to the hundred feet
river, at which a ferry boat,is established to Con-
vty persons, carriages, and citule our.— •