Hence it appears that the public funds are properly the provision which has been made for payment of the interest or principal of the public debts, but as the possession of the acknowledgment, given by government for the money borrowed, established a right to receive the pay ments from the fund on which the loan was originally charged, the sale of these securities was considered as the sale of a portion of that particular fund, and as the acknowledgments given were of different kinds, the general appellation of the pro vision on which they rested was found more convenient for purposes of busi ness. Thus the sale and purchase of go vernment securities w as comm only called the sale and purchase of the public funds, till, in the course of time, the expression has so far varied from its original signifi cation, that instead of meaning the reve nue out of which the interest of the pub lic debts is payable, it denominates the capital of the debts, in which sense it is now commonly used. Thus, the posses sion of 1000/. in the public funds is un derstood to mean 1000/. capital, bearing a certain rate of interest, at 3, 4, or 5 per cent. per annum, according to the origi nal terms of the loan.
The debts bearing a certain rate of in terest, payable till the principal shall be redeemed, are denominated, in the lan guage of finance, perpetual annuities, or redeemable annuities, but in the common course of business, they are called funds or stocks : a small part of the public debts consist of annuities for a certain term of years, commonly called long or short annuities : there are also some life and tontine annuities still existing ; but the whole of the terminable annuities bears a very small proportion to the per manent debts. The perpetual annuities are distinguished according to the rate of interest they pay, or the time or purpose of their creation; and when by a new loan government contracts an additional debt, bearing a certain fixed interest, the capi tal thus created is added to the amount of that part of the public debt which beats the same rate of interest, and the pro duce of the taxesimposed for payment of the interest of such new debt being car ried,to the fund established for paying-the interest of the former capital, the old 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 Transferable at th South Sea Stock New South Sea Annuities Three per Cent. Annuities, 1751 . .
Old South Sea Annuities 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 the 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 tc 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 ol any company or society are liable to a duty. Transfers are made at the Bank between the hours of eleven and one whole is now payable there, the comps 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. Dividends due: Tues. Wed. Th. and Fr.
Tues. and Thurs. January 5, and Mon. Wed. and Fr. July 5. Tues. Th. and Fr.
Tues. Th. and Fr.
Tues. Th. and Sat.
April 5, and Tues. Wed. Th. and Fr. I Mon. Wed. and Sat. j Oct. 10.
Mon. Wed. and Fr. 2 May 1, and Tues. Th. and Sat. 5 Nov. 1.
Tues. Th. and Sat. March 25, and Tues. Th. and Sat. 5 Sep. 25. South Sea House.
Mon. Wed. and Fr. S January 5, and ?. July 5 .
Tues. Th. and Sat. January 5, and Tues. and Thurs. ? July 5.
Mon. Wed. and Fr. 5 April 5, and Oct. 10.
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 engraftei 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. IL 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 ln the funds, for time, refuse to fulfil then. engagements, in which case those who have trusted them have no legal remedy whatever, the settlement of debts thus incurred resting, like all debts incurred by other kind of gaming, entirely on the honour of the party.
The dividends on the public funds:were long expressly exempted from all taxes, charges, and impositions, whatsoever ; they have, however, in common with all other descriptions of income, been lately made subject to the property tax. See