7804. ] 
April, 1801. Paper was 2,266,o00l. 
Exchange rofe from 114 to 14. 
Jan. 1, 1804. Paper was 2,986,999]. 
Exchange rofe to 17 and 18. 
How far the increale of their paper fa- 
eilitated or encouraged the increafe from 
private banks, is nor clearly eftablifhed by 
the evidence ; but it appears to your Com- 
mittee, that the increafe of ftamp duties 
(even under the obfervations made by Mr. 
Beresford), affords fome proof of it ; and 
the whole train of evidence refpecting 
eountry banks fupports the aflertion, par- 
ticularly as to thofe numerous country 
fhops throughout the fouth of ireland 
(many of which can hardly be called 
banks), who ferced their filver notes and 
1.0.U’s on the public with fuch profufion, 
as, in one inftance, not even to have kept 
an account of them; and the inundation 
muft have been very great, if any infer- 
ence can be drawn from the number of 
perfons, whom the reftriétion on fpecie en- 
souraged into the bufinefs. 
On this fubject your Committee deem 
it necefiary to call the attention of the 
Houfe to the tollowing remarkable facts 
In the year ending 25th March, 1800, 
the number of bankers ifluing notes, 
Report of the Committee 
was = seh Oe» con - = Tt 
ending Jan. 1 1801 - a S23 
- - = 1302 - - - 29 
= - - 1803 - “ - 30 
- ~- 1804 . - - 40 
And, 
The number of notes paying duty is 
the like periods, was 
13d, 4d. 4d. 
In 1800 + 148,312 198,361 104,248 
180% = 245,673 147,211 © 65,201 
5802 - 941,894 196,108 95,600 
1803 - 423,672 204,940 67,594 
1$04 -I1,110,217 256,805 90,265 
By the exifting law, all notes under 
three guineas may be iffued on 13d. ftamp 
—under £10 ona 3d.ftamp—under £ 50 on 
a 4d, ftamp—+ whence a judgement may be 
formed of the increafe of paper circula- 
tion; and your committee remark with 
concern the great inattention which has al. 
lowed filver notes to get into circulation 
without having paid the flamp duties. 
The lofs of revenue forms no part of the 
enquiry before them ; but the omiffion of 
that falutary check muit have tended to 
encourage the over-abundant iffue which 
has caufed the depreciation of paper in 
general, enhancing thereby the price of 
the neceflaries of life, and of all manufac- 
tures, encouraging the circulation of bafe 
and counterfeited metal, and driving out 
sf circulation what little good filver had 
_very lately for checking it. 
on the Ssate of Ireland. 37 
been in it; and above all, keeping up hight 
and unexampled rates of exchange againit 
the kingdom, unwarranted in thew beight 
and continuance by any other great or 
adequate ecaufe than that depreciation 
which fuch an extravagant iffue had af. 
fitted. 
It is to he further obferved, that very 
few of thofe peuple had regiftered their 
firms as by law required; an abitract qi 
which jaw, as alfo of the law refpecting 
the iffue of {mall notes, is annexed in the 
appendix. 
To thew the extent of the evil in this 
refpect, which the reftriction prometed, 
your committee have annexed the belt ac- 
count they could procure of the number 
of banks, and other houfes, which have 
been invited by it to partake in the pront 
of iffuing notes and tokens, amounting to 
above 200, but probably toa much larger 
number now; and they have added the 
detailed account of one diftrict, to fhew 
the quality and low condition of the gene= 
rality of the people who were thus encour- 
aged to overwhelm an unfortunate country 
with their paper. 
Mr. Beresford, in hi evidence, expreffes 
his opinion, that the number of new coun- 
try bankers, who have ftarted up fince the 
reftriction, has made the circulaticn of 
country paper at leatt four times what it 
was. 
Your committee have not fufficient 
grounds to form any correét opinion as 
to the prefent amount of iffue by private 
Dublin bankers, 
Mr. Collville feems to think the ifue of 
all private banks in Dublin and the coun- 
try, equal to that of the bank of Ireland. 
Mr. Beresford does not think the iffue of 
thofe in Dublin exceeds £.700,000. ‘The 
practice of fome of the great army agents 
in depofiting with their private bankers in 
Dublin, the notes which they received 
from the bank of Ireland, for payment of 
troops in the country, ard fending, in their 
place, the notes or poft bilis of fuch bank- 
ers, juflly met the difapprobation ef go- 
vernment, and orders have been iffued 
In further 
fupport of Mr. Colville’s opinion, it mutt 
e alfo ebferved, that as the reftriction has 
made it neceflary for every private bank 
to keep a ftock of bank of Ireland paper, 
equal, or neaily fa, to what it would have 
otherwife deemed prudent to keep in 
{pecie for paying i's notes, the facility of 
procuring that ftock is increa‘ed by the in- 
creafe of its quantity in the market ; and 
althouch fech part of that paper as is 
employed im forming that fleck ie 6 
al 
