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but on the whole it may be assumed the spectacle was not very edifying. The winner of number one sold his chance to the fisherman who offered the largest sum, probably about $400, and the winners of other numbers disposed of them in the same way.

"I am In other The drawing of a choice lot was not always without its attendant disadvantages. A story is told that on a certain occasion number one was drawn by an impecunious citizen whose creditors were many. A friend rushed to tell him the good news. sorry for it, I shall be in jail before night," said he. His fears were verified; his creditors pounced upon him and he was in custody in very short order. instances it is said that a man would be so elated over his success that with the assistance of his friends he would expend much more in celebrating his good fortune than the amount he had acquired by the lottery. One usually temperate fellow is said to have indulged in a three months' spree as a result of drawing a lucky number.

The actual receipts to the city were inconsiderable—not more than three or four hundred dollars under the most favorable circumstances. In the year 1851 Moses H. Perley, in his report to the provincial legislature on the fisheries, recommended that the fishery lottery in St. John be abolished and the lots disposed of by auction, the proceeds to form a fund for a free public school. The recommendation was not acted upon, but in the year 1862, it was determined to abolish the drawing, and from that period to the present the fishery lots have been sold by auction and the proceeds, so far as the city is concerned, have been very much more satisfactory than under the old arrangement. The change was brought about not entirely on moral grounds but the idea was advanced—at first by the