50 PAST AND PRESENT OF

question of establishing a paper currency, to supply, in some degree, the deﬁciency of cash in the colony. This is a question that seems bound to come before every parliament, at some time or other. It is not so long since the “Rag Baby,” as it was called, had its advocates in the Parliament of the dominion. In the United States the silver free coinage nostrum may be reckoned as in the same category. There was some excuse for it in this Island, where there was great incon- venience, owing to the scarcity of cash. Various, more or less crude, remedies for this inconvenience were from time to time adopted. At one time it was proposed to make wheat a legal tender. At another the silver dollar was ordered to be punched, the middle part to circulate as a shilling and the outer as a dollar. The object of the ﬁnan— cial genius, who devised this scheme, was to keep the money on the Island. His seems a transparently absurd scheme, but the prin- ciple underlying it is precisely the same that is advocated by powerful interests in both Canada and the United States today. His was the raw, crude, original idea; theirs the development from that idea. Great num- bers of these dollars were treated in this way. . They are now very rare, and valued by the collectors of coins. It was found that the intrinsic value of the metal in the smaller piece was greater than its value in money, so an enterprising gentleman col— lected them and shipped them to England, to be sold as bullion, but the vessel 1n which they were sent was lost at sea and the silver with her. Later on, also, private individuals put in circulation their own copper coin, some specimens of which are now of very considerable market value, and are sought after by collectors. Issues of small notes by different persons were also made. Some of

these small notes were printed upon leather. They were redeemable in specie by their is- suers, and, no doubt, were a convenience at the time. Advertisements of this kind of scrip may be seen in the newspapers as late as the’ 305.

The House of Assembly of 1812 also passed a bill to authorize the emitting of cer- tain bills or debentures within the Island, but this was thrown out by the Council.

Before passing from the General Assem- bly of I812, the last to be convened by Colonel De Barres, it may be of interest to note the very high regard in which the earlier houses of Assembly held their own dignity. They were determined that the most punc- tilious respect, not only from the public, but from its own members as well, should be in- sisted upon by the House, which did not hes— itate to punish any disregard for its privi- leges, no matter by whom shown. Did a member see ﬁt to be absent without leave, or not to attend in proper time to his duties, Mr. Speaker very promptly despatched the sergeant-at-arms to bring the truant before the House. A curious incident in this con- nection is reported in the Journal of 1812.

Mr. Worrell, one of the members for King’s county, who resided at Morell, seems to have been of an eccentric character. He had absented himself from his duties, and the speaker issued his warrant to bring him to the House. The warrant was entrusted to Mr. James Coles. who, after executing it, attended before the House. and stated that he had taken Mr. Worrell “and brought him to town, but that on the road from St. Peters Mr. Worrell oﬁered him his fees if he would let him go, which Coles refused to take; and. Mr. Worrell said that, if Coles took the fees he would have more fees to receive, by being ordered to go again after Mr. Worrell. And‘