Revenue, Friendly Societies, and National Debt Act 1882

18 Adjustment of account as regards accumulations of fractions of a penny on the dividends of the National Debt

Whereas the full amounts of dividends on the national debt payable at the Bank of England have from time to time been issued from the Exchequer to the Governor and Company of the said bank.

And whereas fractions of a penny have never been paid by the Governor and Company of the Bank of England on account of the dividends on the national debt, and the fractions so unpaid have accumulated in the hands of the governor and company of the Bank of England, and such accumulations amount, as shown by the account in the Third Schedule to this Act, to upwards of one hundred and forty thousand, pounds.

And whereas the sums issued out of the Exchequer to the governor and company of the Bank of England for payment of the dividends exceed, as shown in the said account, the sums paid for dividends, and out of the sums so issued a net sum of upwards of seven hundred thousand pounds, as shown by the said account, has been repaid to the Exchequer in pursuance of the enactments referred to in the said Schedule and was on the thirty-first March one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two outstanding in the books of the Bank of England.

And whereas it is expedient to make such provision as herein-after appearing, respecting the said accumulations of fractions of a penny. Be it therefore enacted as follows :—

The governor and company of the Bank of England shall from time to time, when required by the Treasury, certify to the Treasury the amount in their hands arising from fractions of a penny not paid on account of dividends on the national debt, and the Treasury may by warrant direct the said governor and company to repay the same to the Exchequer : Provided that so long as there is an account outstanding of money repaid into the Exchequer, as aforesaid, out of the sums issued for the payment of dividends, the same instead of being repaid shall be written off from the said account, and also from the account of the sums issued from the Exchequer for the payment of the said dividends, and such amount shall be written off as if it had never been issued from the Exchequer.