any such objection to it had been communicated to the Board of Directors, they would have respectfully submitted to your Lordships the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown.
In order to satisfy your Lordships that the directors were asking for no greater powers than the Bank was strictly entitled to, and actually possessed under their original charter, Mr. Peel proceeds to state that whether the Bank has the legal power of issuing notes or not, the reasons...
Therefore, your Lordships could not consent to the extension of the powers prayed for in the petition. The ground on which your Lordships would have refused to agree to the grant of the Charter appears to have been that your Lordships considered that the powers conferred in the Charter to carry on business elsewhere than in England "were not intended to apply to Colonial Banking."
But the Directors humbly venture to remind your Lordships that the Charter has been granted by Her Majesty by virtue of her undoubted Royal Prerogative and has been acted upon by your Lordships, which led your Lordships to decline to recommend the grant of a supplemental charter, could lead to object to the receipt of the notes at the Colonial Treasury and by the Collectors of the Colonial Revenue at Hong Kong.
It is stated that you are aware that there is a large and influential body of Her Majesty's subjects, who have embarked large capital in carrying out the Bank's integrity, which they have hitherto most favourably and successfully done, as testified by the high commercial position which the Bank occupies and the large premium which its shares command in the market.
Mr. Peel proceeds to observe that the establishment of several Banks under the Banking Companies Act with limited liability renders it advisable that orders should be given to the Governors of Crown Colonies to abstain from authorizing the receipt of notes of any Banks except those incorporated by Royal Charter.
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your Lordships could not have agreed to the grant of such extended powers to this Bank, if your Lordships had been entitled to should be given to the Governors of Crown Colonies to abstain from authorizing the receipt of notes of any Banks except those incorporated by Act of Parliament or Royal Charter.