FUNDS. 



and new debts are consolidated, and the 

 whole interest made payable out of the 

 general produce of the fund ; hence we 

 have three or four per cent, consolidated 

 annuities, according to the rate of inte- 

 rest payable on the capital. 



The interest on all the public debts 

 was formerly paid at the Exchequer ; but 

 the Bank being found a much more con- 

 venient place for this purpose, nearly the 



Funds. 



Consolidated 3 per Cent. Annuities . . 

 Three per Cent. Annuities, 1726 . . . 



Navy 5 per Cent. Annuities 



Bank Stock . , .- . 



Five per Cent. Annuities, 1797 and 1802 

 Four per CeAt. Consolidated Annuities . 

 Reduced 3 per Cent. Annuities .... 



Long Annuities 



Imperial 3 per Cent. Annuities . . . - 



Imperial Annuities 25 years 



Irish 5 per Cent. Annuities 



Irish Terminable Annuities . . . 



whole Is now payable there, the compa- 

 ny receiving a certain allowance from go- 

 vernment for managing all business rela- 

 tive to the public funds. The different 

 denominations of the funds transferable 

 at the Bank of England, with the days on 

 which the transfers are made, and the 

 times when the interest or dividend be- 

 comes due, are, at present, as follows : 



Transfer days. 



Tues. Wed. Th. and Fr. 

 Tues. and Thurs. 

 Mon.Wed.andFr. 

 Tues. Th. and Fr. 

 Tues. Th. and Fr. 

 Tues. Th. and Sat. 

 Tues. Wed. Th. and Fr. 

 Mon. Wed. and Sat. 

 Mon. Wed. and Fc. 

 Tues. Th. and Sat. 

 Tues. Th. and Sat. 

 Tues. Th. and Sat. 



Transferable at the South Sea House. 



South Sea Stock . . , . Mon . Wed . and Fr. 



New South Sea Annuities Tues. Th. and Sat. 



Three per Cent. Annuities, 1751 . . . Tues. and Thurs. 



Old South Sea Annuities . Mon ' Wed ' and Fr ' 



Dividends due: 



> January 5, and 

 I July 5. 



: April 5, and 

 Oct. 10. 



7 May 1, and 

 3 Nov. 1. 

 ? March 25, and 

 5 Sep. 25. 



January 5, and 



July 5 . 



5 January 5, and 

 ? July 5. 

 C April 5, and 

 Oct. 10. 



In these several funds, but particularly 

 in the Consolidated 3 per Cents, which is 

 by far the greatest in amount, much bu- 

 siness is transacted daily, both at the Bank 

 and at the Stock Exchange, a building 

 erected expressly for the buyers and sell- 

 ers of the public funds to assemble in. 

 Persons having occasion to invest money 

 in the funds . usually employ a broker, 

 who finds a seller of the stock wanted, 

 and, having agreed upon the price, deli- 

 vers the particulars of the transfer to be 

 made to a clerk in thjs proper office at the 

 Bank, and fills up a receipt, to be signed 

 by the seller, for the money paid. The 

 transaction is completed in a short time, 

 with very little trouble to the parties, and 

 this facility of buying into or selling Out 

 of the funds induces many persons to lay 

 out their money therein, in preference to 

 all other securities. The transfer from 

 the seller to the buyer is made free of all 

 expense to the parties, on all the govern- 

 ment funds ; but transfers of the funds of 

 any company or society are liable to a 

 duty. Transfers are made at the Bank 

 between the hours of eleven and one 



o'clock; but may be made till three 

 o'clock, on payment of a small fee to the 

 clerks. 



Besides the business which arises from 

 the continual sale and purchase of pro- 

 perty in the funds, a species of gambling 

 has been engrafted on the fluctuations of 

 their current price, commonly termed 

 stock -jobbing. This consists principally 

 in making contracts for stock, to be fulfil- 

 led some weeks or months after, without 

 any payment or transfer being made at 

 the time, and generally without an inten- 

 tion of any transfer of stock being made 

 at all; the object of the transaction being 

 merely to pay or receive the difference 

 between the current price of stock at the 

 time of making the bargain, and the price 

 it may be at on the day fixed for settling 

 the account. Bargains of this nature are 

 expressly declared by an act of 7 and 8 

 Geo. II. to be null and void to all intents 

 and purposes whatsoever, and persons 

 concerned in them are in some cases lia- 

 ble to a heavy penalty ; instances there- 

 fore frequently occur, in which persons 

 who have entered into large speculations 



