diff --git a/libstdc++-v3/ChangeLog b/libstdc++-v3/ChangeLog
index ef9b41f0cd5..965a33302df 100644
--- a/libstdc++-v3/ChangeLog
+++ b/libstdc++-v3/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2003-03-06  Jerry Quinn  <jlquinn@optonline.net>
+
+	* src/ios.cc (ios_base::_M_init): Remove _M_word_size.
+	(ios_base::ios_base): Set _M_word, _M_word_size.
+	(ios_base::~ios_base): Remove redundant test.
+	* testsuite/27_io/ios_base_storage.cc (test03): New.
+
 2003-03-04  Alexandre Oliva  <aoliva@redhat.com>
 
 	* src/strstream.cc, include/bits/basic_string.tcc: Remove
diff --git a/libstdc++-v3/src/ios.cc b/libstdc++-v3/src/ios.cc
index 871e836ae9e..f068a299361 100644
--- a/libstdc++-v3/src/ios.cc
+++ b/libstdc++-v3/src/ios.cc
@@ -288,7 +288,6 @@ namespace std
     _M_width = 0;
     _M_flags = skipws | dec;
     _M_callbacks = 0;
-    _M_word_size = 0;
     _M_ios_locale = locale();
   }  
   
@@ -302,7 +301,8 @@ namespace std
     return __old;
   }
 
-  ios_base::ios_base() : _M_callbacks(0), _M_word(0), _M_locale_cache(0)
+  ios_base::ios_base() : _M_callbacks(0), _M_word(_M_local_word),
+			 _M_word_size(_S_local_word_size), _M_locale_cache(0)
   {
     // Do nothing: basic_ios::init() does it.  
     // NB: _M_callbacks and _M_word must be zero for non-initialized
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ namespace std
   {
     _M_call_callbacks(erase_event);
     _M_dispose_callbacks();
-    if (_M_word && _M_word != _M_local_word) 
+    if (_M_word != _M_local_word) 
       {
 	delete [] _M_word;
 	_M_word = 0;
diff --git a/libstdc++-v3/testsuite/27_io/ios_base_storage.cc b/libstdc++-v3/testsuite/27_io/ios_base_storage.cc
index a0c174660c4..6af52c0a8c0 100644
--- a/libstdc++-v3/testsuite/27_io/ios_base_storage.cc
+++ b/libstdc++-v3/testsuite/27_io/ios_base_storage.cc
@@ -91,10 +91,25 @@ void test02()
   VERIFY( l == 0 );
 }
 
+class derived : public std::ios_base
+{
+public:
+  derived() {}
+};
+
+void test03()
+{
+  derived d;
+
+  d.pword(0) = &d;
+  d.iword(0) = 1;
+}
+
 int main(void)
 {
   __gnu_cxx_test::set_memory_limits();
   test01();
   test02();
+  test03();
   return 0;
 }