[mclachlan] presidential ADDRESS 59 



coin checks representing the value of a beaver skin. Later a similar 

 currency struck in brass was issued by the Hudson's Bay Company 

 for 1, I, I and | "made beaver." The term "made beaver" was the 

 unit by which the value of furs was reckoned. This currency, never 

 popular among the Indians, who preferred to depend on their accounts 

 as kept in the Company's books, rather than on these checks, which 

 were subject to be lost, was soon withdrawn. 



The story of the introduction of the decimal currency, which in 

 Canada was gradual and marked by four stages, is in part told by 

 the money of the period. The first stage was ushered in by the or- 

 dinance of 1774, proclaiming Halifax currency to be that of the 

 Province of Quebec. This fixed the pound currency at $4.00 and the 

 shilling at one fifth of a dollar. All subsequent issues of Canadian 

 Bank bills were expressed in dollars rather than in pounds. The 

 second stage, under the currency act of 1854, imade it legal for banks 

 and other public institutions to keep their accounts in dollars and cents 

 as well as in pounds, shillings and pence. But this stage being per- 

 missive, was not marked by a special coinage, so did not advance the 

 change to any appreciable extent. 



The third was a much larger s.tep for, by the act of 1858, it was 

 ordered that all government, as well as bank accounts, be kept in dollars 

 and cents alone. This called for an authorized silver and copper coin- 

 age, for the purpose of properly carrying it out. For the British 

 shilling, while for convenience it circulated for one shilling and three 

 pencé7 or twenty-five cents, was really only worth 24| cents, hence 

 this need for Canadian silver. Like the Maccabean shekel used only 

 for the Temple contributions, it was solely employed as a banking 

 currency, being considered too valuable for vulgar circulation. This 

 gave occupation to a host of money changers that swarmed around 

 the banking centres of the larger cities. 



The fourth and final stage was reached, when the law made it 

 obligatory for all the people to use the decimal currency. To facilitate 

 the change in the manner of reckoning, it was necessary to prohibit 

 the circulation of the old private coppers, that had crept back into 

 general use, although they had once been discredited and rejected 

 and to call in the bank tokens. There was another difficulty, for 

 through the depreciation of the paper currency of the United States, 

 such vast quantities of the silver coins of that country, were unloaded 

 in Canada that it became a drug on the market, that while circulating 

 freely in ordinary trade, it was subject to a discount of 5 or 6% in 

 banking currency. 



The remedy could only be readily effected by the government 

 stepping in and assuming the loss involved in the withdrawing of both 



