Phips was seen as a somewhat weak executive. Shirley, not expecting his absence to be as long as it was, instructed Phips to avoid filling vacancies for offices that the governor made appointments for, and that any appointments he made should expire upon Shirley's return. The provincial assembly generally dominated affairs, led by fiscally conservative leaders such as House Speaker Thomas Hutchinson who were opposed to the inflationary issuance of paper money. Phips implemented currency reforms advocated by Hutchinson to finally settle the province's longstanding problems with inflationary paper currencies. In 1751 he signed legislation authorizing the exchange of the province's unbacked paper currency for silver-based currency, and vetoed an attempt to issue paper currency. Accommodation of Acadians During parts of 1754 to 1756, Shirley was often out of the province on military business associated with the French and Indian War, and gubernatorial duties fell to Phips during those periods. The principal issue during this time was the arrival in November 1755 of several ships containing Acadians, who the British authorities had begun deporting from Nova Scotia after the Battle of Fort Beauséjour. The expenses incurred with housing and caring for about 1,000 Acadians burdened a provincial treasury already bearing the heavy demands of wartime. This prompted Phips to write to Nova Scotia Governor Charles Lawrence, demanding compensation for the care of the Acadians. In 1756, when Acadians who had been resettled in Georgia were found sailing north, apparently intent on returning to Nova Scotia, Phips again complained to Lawrence that Massachusetts was unable to handle any more Acadians. Maine Indian policy Phips was one of a group of landowners of a large tract of land on the central coast of modern Maine. In 1719 the proprietors began to develop the area, establishing the communities of Thomaston and Warren. The indigenous Abenaki people objected to these settlements, claiming that their leaders who had made the original land grants had done so without proper authority. This dispute eventually escalated into a conflict known as Dummer's War, which lasted from 1723 until 1727. In November 1749, Phips proclaimed the end of hostilities between Massachusetts and the Abenaki, who had sided with New France during the recently concluded King George's War (1744–1748), but were not signatories to the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ending the European conflict. The following month one Abenaki was killed and two wounded by settlers in Wiscasset, Maine. The incident divided