One of the most interesting things in Sir Michael Hicks-
Beach's speech was his account of the way in which Consols are now held. There' has been a remarkable change in the last fifteen years. In the year 1884-85 there were• in the hands of the public £529,986,000 worth of Consols. There were in the hands of Government departments, and, therefore, prac- tically out of the market altogether, for the Government is a buyer and not a seller of Consols, £82,775,000. In that year a sum of £6,852,000 was devoted to the redemption of the Debt, and the average rate at which Consols were purchased for that purpose was 1001. "This year," said the Chancellor, "I find that there are no more than £358,000,000 of Consols in the hands of the public, and, therefore, liable to go on the market ; whereas the amount of Consols .held by GovernMent departments has nearly doubled—it amounts to £162,000,000. And we have 27,736,000 to devote to the purchase of Consols, probably at a rate of something like 11 per cent. premium." But of the Consols in the hands of the public a large part is inter likely to come on to the market, for it is held by banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, and by various other persons who desire to possess nest-eggs. The market, then, in which the Government must operate when it buys for the Sinking Fund account is even a narrower one than the figures given above would seem to indicate.
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