Amongst the minor difficulties with which the Board of Works had to
contend, were scarcity of silver, and the impossibility of having
suitable tools manufactured in sufficient quantity. Gold and bank notes
were of little or no use on pay day,--and where works were opened in
wild out-of-the-way places, there was no opportunity of exchanging them
for silver coin. Representations on this head having been made by the
Inspectors, the "Comet," a government vessel, was sent to deliver as
much silver as was required, to the various banks in the towns round the
coast of Ireland; but this system was not long persevered in. Towards
the end of October, Mr. Secretary Trevelyan announced that the Treasury
would return to the ordinary mode of supply. The Bank of England, he
informed the Board, is the appointed distributor of silver coin, which
is supplied to it for that purpose by the Treasury; but as there might
be some inconvenience in sending to England, the Board of Works are to
apply to the Bank of Ireland, which is authorized to give silver coin
when they have it, and when it is not in their own vaults, they will
procure it for the Board from the Bank of England.
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