B.—6b.

1876. NEW ZEALAND.

INSCRIPTION OF STOCK BY THE BANK OF ENGLAND (FURTHER PAPERS RELATING TO THE PROPOSED).

Presented to both Souses of the General Assembly by Command of Sis Excellency.

Mr. J. Mackeeli to the Hon. Sir Julius Vogel. (Unofficial.) Mi deab Sir Julius, — 21, Cannon Street, London, E.C., 27th July, 1876. In continuation of my unofficial report to you of the 7th July last, I now send you a report of what has been done with reference to the Inscribed Stocks Bill, and the present position of the matter. After my letter to you, I saw Mr. Jenkyns, the Counsel of the Treasury, and discussed with him some of the questions upon the Bill, and was afterwards requested to arrange a conference between himself and Mr. Reilly. At the conference, the amendments upon the Bill, except as regards stamp duties, were discussed and to some extent arranged, and the question of stamp duties remained over until the Treasury gave further instructions, as they had not yet received the report of the Commissioners of Inland Eevenue, whom it was suggested we might see upon the subject. Accordingly, I attended at Somerset House, and found that the Commissioners had that day made a report to the Treasury, conceding the alterations we had requested, except on two points —one, the allowing the 2s. 6d. paid on the issue of debentures for existing loans to be deducted from the composition ; and the other, as to the stamp upon stock certificates, which the Commissioners had recommended should be fixed at 7s 6d. in cases where the stamp has not been compounded. We had a long discussion upon these two points, but we were unable to change the views of the Commissioners upon the first point, as they considered it a principle upon which all commutation under the Stamp Acts was allowed, that three times the amount of the duty should be paid, and in no case had they ever allowed stamps already paid to be treated as a payment on account; and they declined to recommend to the Treasury a departure from this principle. They expressed themselves, however, influenced by the arguments we had used with reference to stock certificates, and promised to reconsider the question; and led us to believe that they would consent to reduce the stamp to 2s. Gd., to be payable only in the event of the composition not having been paid. We were requested to ask the Treasury not to act upon the Commissioners' report until they heard further, which I did. The Bank of England were not satisfied with the result of the conference between Mr. Jenkyns and Mr. Rcilly, and I attended, with Mr. TYeshfield, a meeting at the Bank, when the points objected to were discussed, and the Bank gave us to understand that they would not work under the Bill unless their objections were removed. We had a long discussion with Mr. Welby, at the Treasury, upon the points, and at an interview which we subsequently had with Mr. Jenkyns, he consented to amend the Bill, so as to meet the objections of the Bank in all points but one, namely, the giving to stockholders a right to inspect the register. As to this point, he proposed a modification of the clause empowering the Eegistrar to make regulations with reference to such inspection, and requested me to ascertain if the Bank would bo satisfied with this.