1175. [Mr. Hankey.] Is there not this clear distinction between returning a bill on which you have made an advance and discounting a bill, that if you have discounted a bill your liability continues upon the bill until that bill has come to maturity?—­Yes.

1176.  In the other case you have no further liability whatever?—­Certamly.

1177.  Should you not consider that a very important distinction?—­I think it is an important distinction.  Take this case:  suppose a party comes to us and borrows 50,000 L., and we lend it him, and when the loan becomes due we take our money back again.  Surely that is not a discount on our part.

1178.  Is there not this distinction, that if you re-discount you may go on pledging the liability of your bank to an almost unlimited amount, whereas in the other case you only get back that money which you have lent?—­Undoubtedly.

1179. [Mr. Cayley.] The late Chancellor of the Exchequer stated before the adjournment, in a speech in the House of Commons, that during the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the panic, the Bank was almost, if not entirely, the only body that discounted commercial bills; how can you reconcile that with what you have said, that you gave as much accommodation as usual to your customers?—­I am not responsible for what the Chancellor of the Exchequer said; I am responsible for what I am now stating as to the course of our bank, that our advances to our customers on the 31st of December were nearly 500,000 L. higher than they were on the 1st of October.  With regard to our not discounting for other parties, it was in consequence of the discredit which prevailed, that it was necessary we should hold a portion of our deposits in order that they should be available in case persons called for them; a certain number of persons did so; in the month of November we had a reduction of our deposits, and if we had gone on discounting for brokers we should have had to go into the market ourselves to raise money on our Government securities, but we avoided that by not discounting, and leaving our money at the Bank of England.

1180.  Then you did not discount as much as usual for your customers during that period?—­Yes. we did, and more.

1181.  But not to strangers?—­Not to strangers; I make a distinction between our transactions with our customers, who of course expect us to give accommodation, and discounts for brokers, which is entirely voluntary, depending upon our having money to employ.

1182.  How would it have been if the letter had not issued at the last moment?  That is a question which I can hardly answer.

1183.  What do you mean by that general expression of yours?—­It is impossible to predicate what may happen in time of panic and alarm.  A great alarm prevailed certainly amongst the commercial world, and it could never have been alleviated, except by some extraordinary means of relief.  We might probably have been in the state in which Hamburg was, where they have no bank-notes in circulation.