Wales, but inadvertently gazetted as a public street. Parson Thomson had a house erected there, and after a time when the mistake, or whatever it was, was discovered, the Government notified its intention of closing the street, and including it in the land from which it had been excised. T h e Corporation objected on the ground that the street was legally dedicated to the public, and as such should remain; for without special legislation the Government had no power to alienate it from the public purpose to yvhich it had been duly appropriated. T h e Church authorities of course went in for the full "pound offlesh,"but the Corporation would not give it. T h e Government threatened to shut up the street, and prosecute as trespassers any persons, Corporate or other, who dared to re open it, whereat the Council uttered a shout of defiance, and dared the Government to attempt anything of the kind. At length after a protracted contest, Bishop Perry offered to refer the vexata questio to arbitration, to which the Council agreed, and nominated a Committee to treat with Messrs. James Graham, Germain Nicholson, and George Haskell, on the part of the Bishop. In a friendly conference on the 7th September 1849, an arrangement was agreed to by which the "difference was split," the "Cabbage Garden " or school ground was to have added to it one-half the street's yvidth, the other moiety to remain a street; and so Church Street yvas saved, Parson Thomson's house was soon joined by others, and the " Cabbage Garden " question amicably disposed of as far as the Council yvas concerned. But an unexpected development ayvaited the money value of the " Cabbage Garden." Owing to the speculative enterprise of the past few years, its eastern portion has been (1888) transmuted from the vegetable to the mineral grade, whose value is not approached by many so called auriferous quartz reefs, whose yield of golden ore (in the semblance of a circulating medium) will probably continue so long as Melbourne lasts. T h e land has been secured on lease for a term offiftyyears, by one of the leading financial institutions in the city, and already capacious buildings have been erected thereon at an expenditure of about ,£100,000. It is estimated that on the expiry of the lease, the Church of England will be the recipient, in " unearned increment," of something like £20,000 a year. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION.
It has been already stated that the Council had moved the Government for the establishment of telegraphic communication betyveen Melbourne and Shortland's Bluff (Queenscliff). T h e subject was referred to Captain Bunbury the Harbour Master, whose report was received by the Council on the 29th August. It was in effect that the game was not worth the candle, as the cost of stations would be £ 2 5 0 0 , and the annual expenditure £ 1 0 0 0 . Besides he did not apprehend that the proposed scheme could be of m u c h advantage to the shipping. Four yvrecks had happened at the Heads since the settlement of the province ; one ship was ashore and in danger during the same time, twenty miles outside, and no telegraph at the Heads yvould be of use to her. In his opinion in the then state of the province, no good would result equivalent to even one-tenth of the expenditure on the proposed works. A TEMPORARY BENEVOLENT ASYLUM.
There was no refuge for the destitute where the old and infirm poor could be provided with shelterthough three laudable Charitable Societies did all in their power to alleviate the cases of misery n o w unfortunately beginning to present themselves. A n old wooden building, for years utilised as a Police Court in the Western Market Reserve, was vacated through the erection of a suitable building as a Court, and a few kind-hearted persons, w h o devoted much time to the good offices of charity, applied for the permissive occupancy of the abandoned shed. Though a Government building it was on Corporation property, and accordingly, on the 29th August, a memorial was received by the Council, signed by the Rev. A. C. Thomson, Messrs. John O'Shanassy, Michael Lynch, and John Lush—representing respectively the Societies known as the St. James' Visiting, the friendly Brothers, and the Strangers' Friend—soliciting the use of the place for a temporary Benevolent Asylum. The matter was referred to the Market Committee ; and though there was every disposition to grant the request, it yvas found that it could not be legally done, as the land, though vested in the Corporation was for Market purposes, and if not so used for three years
