In June the long hung-up question where the Town Hall should be built was definitely settled by the issue of a Crown grant for i rood 36 perches of (then) North Melbourne, at the corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, to the Corporation of Melbourne, as a site for a T o w n Hall. In one respect it must be admitted that, amidst their other little extravagancies, the City Council were economical in their expenditure upon the luxury of law. B y a return it appeared that since the foundation of the Corporation in 1842, to the 9th May, 1849, the amount was only ,£179 os. 6d. A legal crux arose at this time which caused some uneasiness. A judgment had been given by the Supreme Court, Queen v. Laing, which tended towards a notion that the streets of Melbourne yvere not legally dedicated to the public; and on the motion of Alderman Kerr the attention of the Executive was called to the subject. A RUNAWAY MEMBER.
In June, Councillor McNamara, one of the members for Gipps Ward, suddenly disappeared from the city, leaving his wife and a host of creditors to hold him in remembrance. It was believed he had taken wing to San Francisco, and it yvas unknown for some days whether he had left his resignation behind. At the Council meeting ofthe n t h July, the Toyvn Clerk read a letter purporting to be the document so m u c h talked of. It bore date Williamstown, 25th June, 1849, was subscribed " Michl. McNamara," and intimated that as the writer yvas about to visit V a n Diemen's Land for a feyv months, he tendered his resignation as a City Councillor. T h e Mayor expressed his belief that the document yvas a forgery, and suggested its reference to a committee of enquiry. Alderman Kerr thought the signature was not genuine, though a good imitation ; the question to his mind was a serious one, for if the resignation were accepted, and not genuine, if M c N a m a r a returned to the colony, he could not take his seat without a quo warranto to eject the interloper elected in his stead. T h e subject was remitted to a Committee (appointed by ballot, and consisting of Aldermen Kerr and Johnston, and Councillors Stephen, Annand, and Murray), yvho reported that the signature of M c N a m a r a was not genuine, and that the forger, if discovered ought to be prosecuted. T h e borrower of McNamara's name never turned up, nor did " Mac." himself. S o m e years after it was rumoured that he had taken a religious turn, after arriving in the neyv country whither he yvent, and closed his life in penitence and prayer; whilst on the other hand, it was averred that his end had come in a less peaceful manner, but nothing authentic of his Californian whereabouts ever publicly transpired. His seat, as required by law, remained unfilled for six months, when a vacancy was declared, and a successor elected. Pending the expected separation of the Province from Neyv South Wales, the Sydney Government declined to proceed yvith any n e w public works in Port Phillip, in yvhich yvas included help towards procuring a much needed water supply. T h e question of the establishment of a Benevolent Asylum was urged upon the Government, which was asked to place a sum on the Estimates as an aid toyvards its erection; and on the 25th July, Aldermen Kerr and Greeves, with Councillors Clarke, Murray, and Campbell, were appointed a Committee to choose afittinglocality for the building. T h e present site in West Melbourne was recommended, and in December the Government sanctioned a grant often acres of land for the purpose. T h e Government had some time before this promised a grant of the present site of St. Patrick's Cathedral (Eastern Hill) to the R o m a n Catholic denomination, and this was most unjustifiably opposed by the Council, on the plea that such a blocking up of the East end of the city would cause confusion in the boundaries of Latrobe and Gipps Wards. They readily forgot that St. Peter's was already in the way, and that they had themselves once by a majority agreed to a complete block-up by asking the Government to enclose the area as a T o w n Hall reserve and pleasure ground. Their objections were futile, for Mr. Latrobe adhered to his promise, and the Corporation was frustrated in its ungenerous opposition. T h e Port Phillip Gazette had passed through two or three stages, as far as one of the partners was concerned, and it yvas n o w worked by a firm known as M'Combie and Strode. Mr. M'Combie was a m e m b e r of the City Council, and Corporation advertisements appeared in the paper, and were paid for • when it suddenly broke upon M'Combie (or rather he was told) that such a commercial connection with the Council not only rendered him liable to pecuniary consequences, but legally vacated his seat. It took some
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