the despatches in which charges were brought against Mr. Pope were ordered to be sent to himself, to which he had an opportunity of replying; but, in the meantime, he prudently tendered his resignation to the governor, in a long communication, in which he gave his reasons for so doing, and in which he embodied a reply to the governor’s charges, and condemned his gubernatorial action in very plain and energetic terms. The legislature met for the first time in the new colonial building in January, 1847. An election for the district of Belfast was ordered to be held on the first of March. There were four candidates in the field: Messrs. Douse and McLean on one side, and Messrs. Little and McDougall on the other. A poll was opened at Pinette. The chief supporters of the two former gentlemen were Scotchmen, and of the two latter, Irishmen. A riot ensued, in which a man named Malcolm McRae was so severely injured that he died. Several others lost their lives in this disgraceful scene. Dr. Hobkirk testified before the executive council that from eighty to a hundred persons were suffering from wounds received in the contest. A large force was sent to the locality, and, on the nineteenth of March, Messrs. Douse and McLean were returned without opposition. There is not now a more peaceful locality in the island than that in which the riot took place; national prejudice and political rancor are lost in kindly fellowship. Messrs. Charles Hensley, Daniel Hodgson, and George Birnie having been appointed by the governor commissioners to examine into all matters connected with the state of the currency of the island, presented their report in February, 1847,—a report which was creditable both to their industry and judgment. It appears from a letter addressed by Mr. Robert Hodgson, then attorney general, to the commissioners, that the legal currency of the island was the coinage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Spanish milled dollar, which was valued at five shillings sterling,—the debtor having the option of paying in either of these descriptions of money. The commissioners drew attention to the fact, that the currency of the island was greatly depreciated, and that the process of depreciation was going on, which was proved by the circumstance that the Halifax bank note of a pound, which twelve months previously, would purchase no more than twenty-three shillings of the island currency, was now received and disbursed at the treasury for twenty-four shillings. This depreciation the commissioners attributed to an extensive issue of unconvertible paper, both notes and warrants, combined with a growing distrust of the economical administration of the finances of the colony, arising from the continued excess of the expenditure over the receipts of revenue for some years past. They therefore recommended the reversal of the order of procedure, by diminution of outlay, the increase of revenue, the gradual abolition of