" not only the glory ofthe land,' but they were an honour to the British name"—an encomium which all w h o knew them would admit yvas not an exaggeration. In response, the best speeches were delivered by the clerical visitors, three pious, charitable and patriotic citizens. Parson T h o m s o n declared that if Corporations yvere necessary Lto advance the temporal interests of men, the Clergy yvere not the less necessary to advance their spiritual interests. Father Geoghegan protested that he could not improve upon Parson Thomson, yet he expressed a fervent hope that the Clergy yvould always prove most efficient members of every society; and Minister Forbes wound up by trusting that the Corporation was the germ of a still more liberal extension of the Institutions of the Mother Country. T h e Alderman Mortimer referred to yvas present at the Mayor's dinner in the Melbourne T o w n Hall on the 9th November, 1881, and I sayv the "old soldier" there, hale and hearty, though suffering an irreparable loss of sight, in his 90th year. If he could only have seen the spectacle around him on that occasion, he yvould have been more surprised than Rip V a n Winkle on ayvaking out of his score years' nap in the Kaatskill Mountains. T h e difference in the surroundings of 1843 and 1881 was such as to precisely indicate the Melbourne of then and now. A n immense advance had taken place in everything except the speaking, which certainly yvas inferior to the post-prandial orating at the first Mayor's dinner. In the old party conflicts and election struggles, Mr. Mortimer and myself invariably fought under opposing banners ; and it gave m e sincere pleasure, after the vanishment of so m a n y years, to find that w e were able to bury the old feuds and cordially shake hands. There was still the firm, emphatic, deliberate ring in his wellremembered voice, and now that he is dead (1888) it is a pleasure to remember him kindly.
T h e harmony generated by the Mayoral dinner was of short duration. T h e truce yvas eagerly terminated by mutual consent, and the Corporation barneying was soon renewed, with, if possible, increased virulence.
The Twon Surveyor's First report
Submitted to the Council yvas a document yvhich, read in the light of the present day in Melbourne, would be immeasurably amusing, and suited only for the humourous columns of Punch. Yet at that time it was conned yvith solemn seriousness and without a smile, a feat which it is doubtful if a peruser of the following abstract can imitate.
T h e Toyvn Surveyor said he yvas instructed on the 13th January, 1843, t0 report " O n the best method of making the streets passable for loaded carts and foot-passengers." Hisfirstgreat difficulty was the holes and ruts, and their relative state in summer and winter. Their depth was less in summer, " oyving to the bottoms of them becoming solid; yvhereas in the winter season the ground was softened by the rain, and the holes made considerably deeper." H e suggested an elaborate plan for taking off the crowns of the streets, and sloping the stuff towards both sides, trending to the curbs, there cutting efficient drains, well sloped with stones. A peg was to be driven every chain on the line of curb or edge of the footpath, the tops of the pegs to represent a gradient, as a guide to the house or property-owners to form andfillup; and an adherence to this plan would produce an uniformity of surface, and prevent an overflow from the higher level of a neighbour. T h e levelling up and the levelling doyvn of the street-crowns, ruts and holes, curves and slopings, went on without any perceptible improvement, and assuredly in several places producing the state of things known as "from bad to worse."
O n the death of the Treasurer (Mr. Beith) the occurrence was made an opportunity for docking the salary of the office one-third, i.e., ,£100 for .£150. There were ten candidates for the appointment, and in July, Mr. J. S. Patterson (son of the ex-Councillor; yvas declared the successful one, out of yvhich event such a difficulty sprung that he yvas obliged to relinquish the position. T h e security fixed was a bond for ,£1,000, but Patterson being a minor, it was objected that he could not legally bind himself. T h e question yvas re-submitted to the Council, and by the Mayor's casting-vote the appointment was cancelled, and Mr. John Richardson succeeded to the berth.
T h e Mayor, who had been elected a m e m b e r of the Legislative Council of N e w South Wales proceeded to Sydney to attend to his Parliamentary duties, and Alderman Russell was elected locum tenens. After Condell left, the "rowing" at the T o w n Council was resumed with unedifying spite; personal
