Sinking Fund Act, 1875

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SINKING FUND ACT 1875

CHAPTER XLV.

An Act to amend the Law with respect to the Reduction of the National Debt and the Charge for the National Debt in the Consolidated Fund.[¹] [2nd August 1875.]

New Sinking Fund.

Amount of permanent annual charge for National Debt.

1. For the payment of the annual charge on account of the National Debt there shall be issued out of the Consolidated Fund,—

      .      .      .      .      .      .      .      .      .      .      .      .      

(c.) During every financial year the sum of [² twenty-five] million pounds.

The said annual sum (in this Act referred to as the permanent annual charge for the National Debt) shall be charged on and issued out of the Consolidated Fund, at such times and in such manner as may be required for paying the charges payable thereout, and subject thereto, as the Treasury may from time to time direct, so that the whole amount thereof be issued in each financial year.

[S. 2 rep. 50 & 51 Vict. c. 16. s. 21.]

Application of surplus as new sinking fund to reduce debt.

29 & 30 Vict. c. 39.

3.[³] Such portion of the permanent annual charge for the National Debt as is in any financial year not required for the purpose of paying the annual charges directed by this Act to be paid thereout (which portion may hereafter be called the new sinking fund) shall be from time to time issued to the National Debt Commissioners, and shall be applied by them, within six months after the date of the issue thereof, in purchasing, redeeming, or paying off any one or more of the following descriptions of debt, namely, annuities (perpetual or terminable) charged on the Consolidated Fund, and exchequer bonds and exchequer bills (whether held by the public or on account of the Exchequer, or sent into the Bank of England for payment); but the new sinking fund shall not be applied in paying off any advances made by the Bank of England or the Bank of Ireland in pursuance of section twelve of the Exchequer and Audit Act, 1866, or in paying off any loan borrowed under any Act to meet ways and means.

Old Sinking Fund.

Annual account of income and expenditure.

4. The Treasury shall, within fifteen days after the expiration of every financial year, prepare an account of the public income and expenditure of the United Kingdom according to the actual receipt and issue of moneys on the Exchequer accounts at the Bank of England and the Bank of Ireland during the said financial year, and shall therein show either the surplus of such income or the excess of such expenditure during the said year:

Provided that issues made for the payment of expenses authorised by any Act other than the annual Appropriation Act, shall not, so far as moneys to meet such issues have been provided out of loans, be deemed for the purpose, of the said account to be part of such expenditure.

A copy of such account, certified by the Controller and Auditor General, shall be laid before the House of Commons within one month after the expiration of the financial year, if Parliament be then sitting or, if not sitting, within one week after the then next meeting of Parliament, and a copy of the account so certified shall also be sent to the National Debt Commissioners.

Application of surplus income to reduce debt.

29 & 30 Vict. c. 39.

5.[¹] If there appear by the said account for any financial year to be a surplus of income above expenditure for that year, the Treasury shall in the course of the next financial year cause the amount of such surplus (which may be called the old sinking fund) to be issued out of the Consolidated Fund, or the growing produce thereof, at such times during that year as they may from time to time direct.

The old sinking fund shall be issued to the National Debt Commissioners, and shall be applied by them, within six months after the date of the issue thereof, in purchasing, redeeming, or paying off any one or more of the following descriptions of deb, namely, annuities (perpetual or terminable) charged on the Consolidated Fund, and exchequer bonds and exchequer bills (whether held by the public or on account of the Exchequer, or sent into the Bank of England for payment), and advances made by the Bank of England or the Bank of Ireland in pursuance of section twelve of the Exchequer and Audit Act, 1866, but the old sinking fund shall not be applied in paying off any loan borrowed under any Act to meet ways and means.

[S. 6 rep. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 39. (S.L.R.)]

Miscellaneous.

Accounts of new and old sinking funds

7. The National Debt Commissioners shall keep such accounts of the application of the old and new sinking funds of each financial year as the Treasury may from time to time direct, and those accounts shall, within one month after the expiration of each financial year, be submitted to the Controller and Auditor General in such form as the Treasury may from time to time direct, and forthwith audited by him.

Before the expiration of two months after the expiration of the said financial year the Controller and Auditor General shall send the said accounts as audited by him to the Treasury, who shall forthwith lay the same before the House of Commons, accompanied by such particulars relating to the new and old sinking funds (to be furnished by the National Debt Commissioners), as the Treasury may from time to time direct.

Supplemental provisions as to new and old sinking funds.

8. The Treasury shall publish from time to time in the London Gazette the sums which will be issued by them in pursuance of this Act in each quarter of a financial year to the National Debt Commissioners.

All annuities, bonds, bills, and loans purchased or redeemed by the National Debt Commissioners in pursuance of this Act shall be forthwith cancelled in such manner as the Treasury may from time to time direct; and any such direction shall be a sufficient indemnity to the Bank of England and the Bank of Ireland for anything done in pursuance thereof.

Definitions.

9. In this Act—

The expression “financial year” means the twelve months ending on the thirty-first day of March ;

The expression “loan borrowed under any Act to meet ways and means” means a loan borrowed in pursuance of an Act authorising sums to be borrowed on the credit of any sum which the Treasury are authorised by an Act to issue out of the Consolidated Fund towards making good the supply granted to Her Majesty; and

The expression “Consolidated Fund” means the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom.

Short title.

10. This Act may be cited as “The Sinking Fund Act, 1875.”

[¹ Short title, “The Sinking Fund Act, 1875.” See s. 10.]

[² Substituted for twenty-eight by 52 Vict. c. 6. s. 1.]

[³ Ss. 3, 5 apply to Treasury Bills, in like manner as if they were Exchequer Bills, 40 Vict. c. 2. s. 7.]

[¹ See note to s. 3.]