Note 107 — Chapter V

Exchequer-bill purchases, as we gather from the evidence taken before the Committee of Inquiry, are made in two modes. If the purchases are to be made in the market, the Cashier of the bank is directed in the same manner as when he is told to purchase Stock; pays for the bills out of the Savings Bank fund, and carries them to the credit of the Commissioners. The other mode is, by the issue of temporary Exchequer bills, such as Deficiency bills, or Ways and Means bills. Deficiency bills are bills issued under the authority of 57 George III., to enable the Government to provide for a temporary deficiency of money in the Exchequer. Deficiency bills are issued either to the Bank of England, or held temporarily by the National Debt Commissioners through the bank, the bank paying the money to the Exchequer, and paying itself the next day out of the Savings Bank fund. Ways and Means bills are of a pretty similar character, but chargeable to the revenue of the next succeeding quarter, and not, as in the former case, of the current one. Supply bills are of a still more permanent character, and are often held on from year to year, and are exchanged from year to year.