§ Mr. Grenfellpresented a petition from the town of Dudley, against the circulation of local 1314 copper tokens. The hon. gentleman, in introducing the subject, adverted to the late change, adopted in consequence of the suggestion of the Speaker, in printing the votes of the House, and allowed it generally to be an essential improvement; but he could not help mentioning one inconvenience that resulted from it, namely, that from the necessarily abridged form in which the expedition of printing required them to appear, no abstract of the petitions could be made out. The petitioners complained, that the copper-tokens in circulation in their neighbourhood were not worth half their nominal value. It might be said, that no one was bound to take them unless they chose, and that no inconvenience would result from their currency. This might be the case with individuals who could lie out of their money till they had collected a great quantity to be returned at once to the persons who issued them, and who might thus find it their interest to buy and sell them, but the poor could not engage in this species of traffic, and as their wages were paid in this uncertain medium, they must necessarily be losers. The petitioners concluded by giving it as their opinion, that since government with a liberality worthy of the nation, had issued such a quantity of new silver coinage, the continuance of these local tokens was quite unnecessary, and their use ought to be abolished. They prayed, therefore, that the House would take the subject into their consideration.
§ Sir M. W. Ridleydid not see that the inconvenience mentioned by his hon. friend would result from the late improvement in printing the votes of the House. The petitions could not be printed so as to be distributed ou the following morning; but if required, they might be printed in two or three days.
§ The Speakersaid, the substance of the petitions, or the petitions themselves, might be printed and delivered in the course of two or three days, upon a special motion for that purpose, although their subject only could appear in the votes of the following morning.
§ Ordered to lie on the table.