166 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



material, were grasped with the same avidity 

 as a dealer will grasp a £5 Bank of England 

 note. 



Not only was the Market-house built in 

 this manner, but also the embankments were 

 thus erected to keep out the sea ; old houses 

 were pulled down, and street improvements 

 made, and altogether 80,000 States notes 

 were issued in twenty years. 



Then came the insidious influence of the 

 private banks, which effectually stopped the 

 further issue of notes, to the lasting hurt of 

 the citizens of Guernsey, who were getting 

 all their public improvements made without 

 paying interest. Yet so highly regarded were 

 these notes that even to-day there are £40,000 

 of paper money still in circulation in the 

 island and used as coin of the Realm. 



Would that we could get our municipal 

 debts contracted in this simple way. Then 

 the small holder would not have long to wait 

 for his market-places I 



