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proprietors, to loyalists and disbanded sol- diers, who had settled or surrendered lands, but without a title. He enclosed a letter from a Mr. Edward Allen, who wrote on be- half of himself and others, refusing to ac- cept the terms offered. The people of Bay Fortune had examined part of Cape Breton, and were now returned to this island, but all were determined to leave. The proprie— tors had ruined all prospect of getting set- tlers. In different forms, the same wretched story is told time and again.

With the sanction of Lord Dorchester, the govemor-general, Farming, in the au- tumn of 1787, cancelled the suspension of Mr. Wright from his office of surveyor-gen- eral, and also those of Messrs. Callbeck, Wright and .Burns from their seats in the council, and on their giving satisfactory as- surances of future good behavior. How- ever, this did not save them, as they were dismissed by the secretary of state in 1789. Mr. Callbeck died the following year.

Previous to Fanning’s arrival there had never been a printing press on the Island. In 1788 he induced a Mr. Robertson. a printer. to come to Charlottetown, and employed him in printing a complete copy of the laws. The journals and acts had never been printed, and some of the latter had been lost, and only imperfect manuscripts of others could be ob- tained. He forwarded a memorial from the council and assembly to Lord Dorchester, asking to have Robertson appointed king’s printer, with a salary the same as that of the similar official in New Brunswick. as, unless he had a salary, he must leave the Island as the profits of his business here would not support his family. The secretary of state, to whom Lord Dorchester referred the me- morial, saw no objection to the appointment, but refused to attach a salary to the office.

PAST AND PRESENT OF

Robertson remained on the Island till 1798, when he printed the laws, a printed collec- tion of which the Governor forwarded to the secretary of state. He then left the Island, which was again without a printing press. Fanning had dissolved the Assembly im- mediately after assuming the government, and a new one was elected, being the fifth General Assembly convened on the Island. It met in January, I788, when it passed only one act, being an act in addition to two re- cited acts relating to highways. This proved to be a very refractory Assembly. The ill- feeling between the friends of the late lieu- ,tenant-govemor and the supporters of the present one gave rise to much friction. Fan- ning, thereupon. dissolved the Assembly, and issued writs for a new one, which met in March, 1790. He reported to the secretary. . that in this Assembly harmony prevailed. It certainly seems to have been a satisfactory one for the governor, as it was in existence - for twelve years, and held no less than nine » sessions. It may fairly be called the “Long Parliament” of this Island. The act chang- ing the name of the Island from St. John to Prince Edward Island was passed by this Assembly, in its seventh session. in 1798. Like his predecessor, Fanninghad trouble with the proprietors. He seems to have- acted with considerable tact, not lacking. in firmness, and without making the personal enemies, who, in the end, proved too strong' for Patterson. He tried to enforce the col- lection of the quit rents, and the proprietors complained of him to the secretary of state. Their complaints were, of the forced collec-4 tion of rents, the escheating of their lands.. and the uncertainty of tenure, to which, and not to their own neglect, they attributed the- delay in settling the Island. As already pointed out, Fanning successfully defended