There was once a meeting of Magistrates in Melbourne to consider some knotty point of procedure, and the warmth of debate threatened to rival a modern Legislative Assembly in its liveliest of moods. It resembled a " P o w W o w " more than a quorum of Justices, and, in the midst of the yabbering, one iron-lunged voice roared down the rest by exclaiming: " N o w , jintleman, I'll tell you w h a t — I came ere to-day with a desire for conciliation—to talk the question hover in a mild hand rational way; but now has the happle of discord as been hintroduced I throw haway the scabbard." T h e rhetorician had once been in the spirit-selling business, and if he watered his grog as imperfectly as he blended his metaphors, he never would have succeeded as he did. A n d so on ad nauseam. U p to the date of Separation there were only three Police Magistrates in Melbourne, viz., Messrs. Lonsdale, Simpson, and St. John, thefirstand second did good service in their time, and the third might have done equally well but for himself, and upon himself he brought the consequences which almost invariably, sooner or later, wait upon official misdoings. THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE.
Though this could not be classed as one of the Public Departments, being a ministerial adjunct of the Supreme Court, it m a y be as well to include a brief notice of it. Prior to the introduction of a branch of the Supreme Court in 1841, Port Phillip was within the circuit of the N e w South Wales shrievalty, and the business was exclusively confined to levies and sales of property, under writs of execution sued out of the Courts at Sydney, and entrusted to the management of a Mr. Michael O'Brien, as curious and wide-awake an old card as it was possible to find. H e was one of the raciest story-tellers of his generation, and as a raconteur of anecdotes of the old convict times, it would be difficult to find his equal. O n the arrival of a Resident Judge, "Old M i c k " found his occupation gone, a dead-lock he did not long survive. During the connection of Port Phillip with N e w South Wales, there were only two Deputy Sheriffs in the Province, and thefirstwas Mr. Samuel R a y m o n d , w h o accompanied Judge Willis from Sydney. Mr. R a y m o n d was a Barrister, and during his stay in Melbourne, both officially and privately, he m a d e himself a favourite by his courteous and gentlemanly demeanour. His appointment was provisional only, and at that time permanent appointments had to be confirmed by the Potentates in London. In 1842 a Mr. Alastair M'Kenzie was shipped out, a cut-and-dry Sheriff from Downing Street, and Mr. R a y m o n d thus relieved, joined the Port Phillip Bar, got into fairly good practice, and would have done well had he remained. His father, Mr. James Raymond, held the office of Post-master General of N e w South Wales, and as he was a m a n of good colonial influence, the son obtained the appointment of Chairman of Quarter Sessions, then a gift vested in the N e w South Welsh Magistracy. Mr. M'Kenzie continued in the office until 1851, when he was appointed to the Treasurership, vacated by Captain Lonsdale. H e died in the new colony of Victoria. H e was something of the same stamp of Treasurer as Lonsdale, and throughout his official career m a d e few, if any, enemies. H e was punctual and precise, often ratherfidgety,but civil and obliging, doing m u c h more good than otherwise. T h efirstSheriffs office was a brick cottage, close by the Insolvent Court, in Roache's Terrace, off King Street, already referred to. T h efirstSheriff's officer was a Mr. John Bullivant, the second Mr. W . J. Sugden (afterwards Chief-Constable of Melbourne), the third Mr. David Lyons, and the fourth Mr. Henry Addison. So ends the list as far as 1851. This quartette subsequently embarked in the business of licensed victuallers, at which two of them did well, and the other two otherwise. Mr. Bullivant retired from business, comfortably provided for, and died many years ago. Mr. Lyons, after doing well at the Bar, did not keep his money idle, but embarked in various other enterprises. H e succeeded with everything he took in hand. H e was one of the most enterprising of the old colonists; and at Sydenham, on the Brighton Road, in the "sunset of life," reaped the reward of a long career of honourable industry until his death, some four years since.
