[1] The attention of the Council of Trade had been frequently called
to the disorder in the currency in the Plantations (see _Cal. State
Papers, Colonial, 1700_, pp. 108, 393; and Chalmers' _History of
Currency in the British Colonies_, pp. 11-15). On November 18, 1703,
the Privy Council referred to the Lord Treasurer a representation from
the Board of Trade for settling the rates of foreign coins in America,
upon which the Lord Treasurer, May 18, 1704, submitted a report from
the Officers of the Mint with a table of the weights and values of
foreign coins then current in the Plantations (_Acts of Privy Council_,
ii, 452). The proclamation which followed was little observed, however,
and after several reports on the subject had been rendered, an Act of
Parliament was passed April 1, 1708, entitled "An Act for ascertaining
the Rates of Foreign Coins in Her Majesty's Plantations in America."
(_Statutes of the Realm_, viii, 792. See also _Lords Journals_, xviii,
486, 566; _Commons Journals_, xv, 635; _Acts of Privy Council_, ii,
452). For the action of Massachusetts upon this proclamation, see _Acts
and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay_, viii, 471.
1708, June 26.
[Encouraging Trade to Newfoundland.]