him, from which I extract this passage:—"It is very important that the sites of towns and preliminary arrangements should be speedily and effectually determined, and w e congratulate ourselves that these will be effected under your Excellency's personal superintendence." In the course of his reply the Governor remarked, "In the belief that its (the town's) future progress will realize the sanguine expectations entertained regarding it, I have felt very strongly the necessity offixingat once those points of occupation which are obviously of the greatest importance, in order to prevent waste of capital, and to give to the industry of the settlers a permanent direction. . . T h e difficulty of introducing all the advantages of order and society into new and remote settlements is well-known ; but I trust that, in the present instance, the praiseworthy disposition evinced by the inhabitants, will continue to characterise the district, and to aid the efforts of Government in securing its peace and prosperity."
THe First Roast Goose.
After the deputation was bowed out, His Excellency sat down to dinner, the principal ingredients having, like the tentage, been shipped from the man-of-war the day before, the piece de resistance being a goose, thefirstso immolated in the province, and whose slaughter on this occasion was the result of an amusing blunder on the part of the Governor's convict cook. Mrs. Westmacott (the wife of Captain Westmacott, the Governor's Aide-de-Camp) forwarded by the " Rattlesnake" a pair of geese (male and female), as a desirable present to Mrs. Lonsdale (the wife of the Police Magistrate), and they were put into the boat that brought the Governor's luggage from the Bay; but when "cookey" saw them he jumped to the conclusion that they were to be spitted, and cooked the lady goose for dinner, a mistake not discovered until she was dished and placed piping hot upon the table. T h e gentleman goose was saved, aud he was absolutely thefirstwidower in the settlement to evince a lasting regret for the loss of his better half. H e pined away to a skeleton, and Mrs. Lonsdale was so interested in the manner in which the poor fellow sorrowed over his bereavement, that she gave him absolute deliverance and immunity from the cook's knife as long as he lived.
During Sir Richard Bourke's stay he manifested a deep interest in the future city, and, in conference with Mr. Hoddle, determined the size and names of the principal thoroughfares. There was a good deal of discussion as to the laying out of the town, and even controversy about the width of the streets. All difficulties werefinallyarranged, a plan was approved, and most of the streets named. T h e establishment of townships at Williamstown and Geelong was also sanctioned. T h e Governor returned on board the "Rattlesnake" on the 5th, where he remained in consequence of heavy rain, but he was consoled by a steaming kangaroo for dinner. All the natives for several miles rolled into the settlement to see the " big one Gubernor," and brought a small drove of kangaroos as a present to him. There was to be a grand Corroboree in his honour on the night of the 6th, but the inclemency of the weather prevented it. O n the 8th, the Governor made an overland trip to Geelong, and an Address was presented to him by the settlers " squatted in this remote dependency of His Excellency's province," to which a suitable reply was given. His Excellency, in the course of his return, made a detour via Mount Macedon, in which he was piloted by the "Wild White Man." H e arrived in Melbourne on the 21st March, and sailed away forthwith to his seat of Government.
Sir George Gipps.
The reception given to the Governor of New South Wales in the latter end of 1841, was different to that accorded to Sir Richard Bourke on the occasion of his visit in 1837. T h e district had immensely increased in importance, and Melbourne, though a straggling and uncouth-looking town, was daily giving evidence of much commercial life, and increased social and political activity. Sir George Gipps had hitherto shown scarcely any interest in its development. Yet his coming was looked for with a trustful hope, for it was reasonably to be expected that when he came and saw, he would of necessity feel constrained' to do something to remedy the anomalous state of things prevailing. At 8 o'clock on the morning of the 23rd October, Sir George Gipps and his suite arrived in the Bay, per steamer " Sea Horse," from Sydney and was received with a salute of nineteen guns from a temporary battery at Williamstown, and from such of
