THE HON. ROBERT LOWE AND HIS IPSWICH PETITIONERS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 157, 9 February 1871, Page 6

THE HON. ROBERT LOWE AND HIS IPSWICH PETITIONERS.

That old and enthusiastic Australian, the Honourable Robert Lowe, has furnished a topic for table talk in England that has been largely taken advantage of of late. Colonel George Tomline recently forwarded to Mr. Lowe a petition signed by 196 working men in the neighbourhood of Ipswich, who had been employed by him in reclaiming land from the sea, praying that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would, as Blaster of the Mint, coin into 2000 shillings standard silver of that value, which Colonel Tomline had sent for that purpose, but which the Chancellor of the Exchequer had refused to coin. " The result of your refusal," the memorial said, " is that we can earn no wages ; the national as well as local benefit of our work has ceased, we are forced to bo idle, and pauperism increases. The increased rates to relieve this pauperism arc paid exclusively by our neighbours, who, therefore, find the means of employing us reduced. If, as we are told, you stand in the way of our earning 15s a week by claiming a more than doubtful, and certainly a dormant prerogative of the Queen, we respectfully submit that, without her knowledge, and, as we believe, contrary to her wishes, you make a benevolent lady responsible for the misery of id.aiy of h-jv subjects." Mr. Lowe, in reply, wrote :—": — " It is my duty, as Master of the Mint, to buy silver when I want it to coin into shillings and other silver coins ; but not to buy it uuless I want it for that purpose, because I have no other use for it. When Mr. Tomliue sent me his silver I did not want any to niako into shillings, and so I did not buy it. But there are a great many people who buy silver to make a profit by celling it again, and Mr. Tomline might have sold his silver to any of them, and they w,puld have given him in exchange shillings, or perhaps gold, which he would have had no difficulty in changing iuto shillings. If a man has a pig to sell, and takes it to a town where there are several butchers, the first butcher may perhaps not want to buy a pig. But the man does not take his pig home again and say that the butcher has prevented him from selling his pig. He goes to the other butchers until he finds one that wants a pig, and sells the pig to him. lam very sorry that Mr. Tomline has ceased to give you employment, but as he could easily, if lie chose, obtain 2000 shillings in exchange . for his silver, and, indeed, iv many other ways, you must not think that my refusal to buy his silver has anything to do with your distress."