TROVE'S QUIRKY WAYS LED ME BACK TO MY FAVOURITE MORNINGTON PENINSULA PIONEER, S.S.CRISPO.
Trove serving me HOVER when I ordered HOVE led me to an article about the Rosebud Union footy team of 1890, which I had been trying to relocate for years. Ironically, I'd been trying to work out why the part of Eastbourne Rd., east of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway had been renamed as Hove Road.

Crispo was not only a terrific entertainer; being a bachelor, he had plenty of time to dream up his brainwaves, such as AMALGAMATE, DON'T FEDERATE and Rosebud West becoming Australia's capital named FEDERANIUM, and write countless letters to the editor detailing them. I thought I'd read every one of his letters until I was researching Silvester, one of the Rosebud Union players in 1890, and Mr Trove thought I'd ordered SILVER!

"IN MEMORIUM", probably written by Ned Williams, the new owner of "Eastbourne" at whose residence Crispo died in 1899,(or Ned's daughter, Cassie, whose grave at Rye is directly opposite Crispo's) might give you a clue why I call Crispo the Peninsula's Don Quixote.

IN MEMORIAM.
Small space I crave from you kind sir,
A dead friend's worth to sing ;
Small tribute to his kindly deeds,
A kindly requiem.

God bless thee, Crispo, in thy bed,
With ti-tree blossoms strewn;
God rest the weary heart and head,
For me, all gone too soon.

What though thy brain with fancy teemed,
Fostered and led by fools;
What though thy airy castles gleamed,
Fashioned by dreamland's tools.

Beneath the haze of fancy's dreams,
A kindly heart and true;
An honest hand and steadfast will,
To fight life's battle through.

Take then thy well-earned rest, old friend,
Short space of time, and we
May meet thee on that brighter shore,
Au revoir S. S. C.
AMICUS."
(P.3, Mornington Standard, 19-10-1899.)

SILVER AS A LEGAL. TENDER.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE AGE.
SIR,— When.staying with Mr. Wm. Stephen,
acting chief inspector of stock, he advocated the
making of silver a legal tender in place of gold.
The effect of this would be the releasing from
the banks a large quantity of gold for circula-
tion and the deposit in the banks of an immense
quantity of silver. To meet the withdrawal
of the silver it would be necessary to coin
millions of pounds worth of silver, and as a
consequence the price of silver would rise in
value, At present silver is becoming a drug in
the market as compared to gold. The idea
broached by Mr. Stephen appears to be the only
one that will solve the difficulty. It would be
of great advantage to Australia if this should
happen. I would advocate the coining of a
large number of five and ten shilling ooins, and
also one pound coins, in silver. — Yours, &c.,
S. S. CRISPO,
Eastbourne, Rosebud, 10th May.
(P.6, The Age, 15-3-1893.)

Crispo's idea of conveying passengers up the bay, as described in LIME LAND LEISURE could be described as fanciful but others were ingenious, such as life rafts instead of lifeboats (which were often swamped), and AMALGAMATE DON'T FEDERATE (following the Canadian model) which would have eliminated the cost and bickering caused by having three levels of Government. Obviously the Governor, Lord Brassey, was as fascinated by Crispo as I am because he unsuccessfully tried to visit Eastbourne- an amusing tale!
A VICE REGAL STORY

I'd had no idea about how long it took for silver to become legal tender.
So thanks to Mr Trove for his little boo boo.