[104] "Suppose any bank should question the way in which their funds had been invested?"--"My answer would be," said Sir A. Spearman (4,029), "that this was a matter which did not in the least concern them. I am not aware that the Act of Parliament in any shape or in any manner makes the Commissioners or their officers responsible in the slightest degree to the trustees of Savings Banks." When asked if, "Supposing the money were used for financial purposes, or not invested at all, or invested so as to produce little interest, would Savings banks have a right to complain?" this witness answered, he "did not think so. What the Commissioners are responsible for is, to repay to the trustees of Savings Banks the amount received from them, together with the amount of interest due, whenever they call for it." "They are responsible for that, and nothing more." [105] A little prior to this, Lord Monteagle had spoken at great length and with great animation on the same subject in the House of Lords. He then went the length of saying, that, "now the money was coveted not so much on account of inculcating the growth of provident habits, but that it should afford the Chancellor of the Exchequer a large capital, which might be sold, bought, exchanged, or invested in Exchequer bills, or in stock, at the will and pleasure of the financial minister; and, consequently, that he could thus be enabled, as he saw fit, to influence the Money-market to an extent which no individual or combination of capitalists could possibly either equal or counteract." He added, that he could have no objection to the mere buying and selling of securities, so far as the Savings Banks were concerned; what he objected to was, that these transactions should be so carried on as to affect the value of the public securities and influence the Stock-Market--"rig the market," as a member of the House of Commons said at the same time. [106] Sir Francis Baring, Sir Charles Wood, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Disraeli, and Sir George C. Lewis.