The condition of the transient poor of the town was very sad this winter. An organized system of relief known as the Poor Man's Friend Society, was instituted. The town was divided into wards, and three or four gentlemen volunteered in each ward to visit the poor throughout the winter months. A soup house was established, and other arrangements made to meet the objects intended. This society continued for about six or seven years. In 1824 Beamish Murdoch was its secretary. The following year William Young (the late Chief Justice) was acting secretary. A large issue of paper money by the province took place in 1820. Silver change was almost driven out of circulation by the issue of small notes, many at one dollar, at 2s. 6d., and even at 1s. 3d. These notes were issued by private individuals upon their own credit and responsibility. Those of William Lawson and Adam Esson were the most numerous. The doubloon was at this time established at £4 currency, and the Spanish dollar at five shillings. The price of flour had fallen to twenty-seven shillings and six pence per barrel. An anonymous pamphlet was published from the press of A. H. Holland, charging the magistrates of the town with malpractices, which caused much excitement. It was discovered to have been written by Mr. William Wilkie, of Halifax. He was indicted for libel, tried at the Easter term of the Supreme Court, found guilty and sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labor in the House of Correction. This was esteemed a most tyrannical and cruel proceeding on the part of the government. The pamphlet was a very paltry offence, such as at the present day would be passed over with contempt. Wilkie, though not a person of much esteem, yet being a member of a respectable family in the community, should have been spared the indignities thrown upon him by Chief Justice Blowers and the other Judges of the Supreme Court. After the sentence was known, the sympathy in his favor was very general throughout the town. The reaction after the peace had reduced the price of agricultural produce, not only in Halifax but throughout the province. The West India trade, then the chief branch of commerce, had begun again to be prosperous, and the merchants were looking forward to profitable voyages. But the value of real estate had so fallen that sales were made in the body of the town for much less than half the cost of the buildings. This state of things continued for several years, and very few new buildings were erected between 1819 and 1823. The population was about 15,000, but the number of houses did not exceed 1,600.