MONEY 
of its resources, and that it did not think it could ever 
resume the practice, the notes would have ceased to 
be generally acceptable and consequently ceased to 
circulate and lost their value at one blow. But 
instead of doing that the Bank directors went to the 
Government and secured the passing of a law restrain- 
ing them from redeeming their notes. The public 
thought little of this : the notes looked just the same 
as before, and continued just as convenient, and 
every one except Lord King long afterwards went on 
taking them just as before. The demand for them 
was unaffected, and the supply for the moment 
continued just, or nearly, as much limited as 
before. 
In some such way an already existing demand for a 
convertible note can be maintained for it when well- 
informed people, and even much larger numbers, know 
that its convertibility has disappeared. Demand and 
limitation of supply account for an obsolete blue 
Mauritius 2d. stamp selling for a thousand pounds : 
why should they not also account for a convertible 
note retaining its old value even when it is no longer 
convertible ? The Government of Mauritius cer- 
tainly does not promise to redeem the stamp at that 
or any other value and never undertook to accept 
it as payment for postage for more than 24., but a 
dealer will give £1,000 for it because he knows he can 
pass it on for more. He will not, it is true, give £1,000 
for it if he can only sell it for that sum, while any one 
selling five pounds’ worth of goods in 1797 would take 
a £5 Bank of England note, although he could not 
expect to get more than £5 for it, but the difference 
is only the result of the demand for the five pound 
note being a demand for currency, whereas the 
demand for the stamp is a demand for the satisfaction 
of collectomania. 
It is perhaps impossible for private individuals