elected :—Trustees: Messrs. Joseph Hawdon, A. M . Munday, and Peter Snodgrass. Directors : Messrs. D. S. Campbell, S. Craig, C. H . Ebden, Arthur Hogue, F. A. Powlett, G. B. Smythe, P. W . Welsh, C. Williams, Thomas Wills, and W . H . Yaldwyn. Mr. Samuel McDonald was Secretary pro tern. Another meeting was held at Williams' Auction Room, on the 2nd December, Mr. G. D. Mercer presiding, when it was agreed to double the number of shares, i.e., 3000, to increase the capital to £120,000 and change the title to "The Port Phillip Bank." ThefirstDirectory consisted of Messrs. Farquhar, M'Crae, D. S. Campbell, Charles Williams, Thomas Wills, S. Craig, P. W . Welsh, F. A. Powlett, C. Howard, Alex. Thomson, and Foster Fyans. The defeated candidates being Messrs. H. F. Gisborne, J. P. Fawkner, and Captain Smyth. The Managing Director was Mr. John Gardiner. For the Solicitorship there yvere two aspirants, viz, Messrs. James Montgomery and H . N. Carrington. The former was appointed, and the 2nd January, 1840, fixed for the commencement of business in a tyvo-storied house in Collins Street, which afterwards became the habitat of the Port Phillip Club, then an hotel, and after undergoing as many alterations as the Irishman's gun,finallydisappeared, to, make way for the Bank of Victoria, now built in its place. Great results were anticipated from this venture but were never realised. Mr. Gardiner was sent to England to do a littlefinancingin the London money market, and in 1840 the Bank was thus officered :—Managing Director : Mr. G. D, Mercer. Accountant : Mr. B. J. Bertelsen. Teller : Mr. G. B. Eagle. Clerk : Mr. John Patterson. At a meeting of shareholders on the 30th December, 1842, it was decided " That the Bank should cease to carry on business; and that its affairs be wound up and cleared with as little delay as may be consistent with prudence." W o u n d up it was accordingly, and however its shareholders fared, not a shilling was lost by depositor or customer. The collapse might have been attributed to the free-and-easy manner in which some of the Directors accommodated themselves and their friends. They regarded the Bank simply as a " mutual accommodation " pie, and accordingly kept their ownfingersin it. Several years after the Bank's closing, a notification, signed by F. D. Wickham, and J. W . Howey, as Trustees, appeared in the newspapers of the 3rd May, 1851, intimating that a deed of release was ready for execution by shareholders, and that afinaldividend of 9d. per ,£10 share would be paid to them on such execution.
THE TRADESMEN'S BANK.
Mr. J. P. Fawkner, no doubt smarting at his rejection as a Director of the Port Phillip Bank, had his revenge by starting an institution of his own, and a number of persons agreed to co-operate in organising a " Cash-mill," out of which all were to reap a golden harvest, without money, trouble, or risk. The new venture yvas to take in Melbourne and Geelong, and to possess a capital of £100,000 in £o shares. A grandiloquent prospectus was concocted, but it never passed beyond the advertisement stage, and shared the fate of many of those good intentions with which a certain nameless region is said to be paved.
T H E B A N K OF N E W S O U T H
WALES.
O n the 2nd April, 1851, a branch of the Bank of N e w South Wales yvas established at the corner of William and Collins Streets, in premises which once formed a large butchery, kept by Mr. W . H. Mortimer, one of thefirstMelbourne Aldermen. The Bank was under the management of Mr. C. S Vallack, with Messrs. Archibald M'Lachlan and D. R. Furtado as Directors, the Accountant being Mr. John Badcock. O n the ist July, 1858, it transhipped itsflourishingbusiness to the solid structure in the heart of the Collins Street block, where it still continues. The land upon which the banking-house is erected, was bought for £ 6 0 0 0 in 1852, and the building cost £38,000.
