the Southern terminus, with an only daughter named Polly. They were both in their way public favourites, and when the father would be asthmatically or rheumatically disposed, as occasionally happened, Polly officiated as "skipper" with skill and liveliness. This ferry continued until the erection of the recent Falls Bridge, after "Paddy" had gone to stretch his bones in the old cemetery, and "Polly" somewhere else to the chronicler unknown. The keeper of the second ferry was, in 1839, one John Matthews, by no means so much an identity as either Paddy or Polly Byrne, and during the great Christmas Eve flood of that year, he had a miraculous escape from drowning. His boat and himself were swept from their moorings, and he would certainly have come to grief, but for his gallant rescue by a couple of sailors.
Bridges.
Considering the daily increasing importance of Melbourne, the punt system was abolished, and a bridge over the Yarra substituted.
Melbourne Bridge Company.
Committee:—Messrs. D. S. Campbell, P. Mayne, J. Sutherland, J. J. Peers, J. B. Were, F. McCrae, M.D. Secretary and Treasurer:—Mr. Donald Gordon McArthur.
This company, established 22nd April, 1840, with a capital of £5000, in shares of £10 each, had for its object the erection of a bridge across the Yarra Yarra, in a line with Elizabeth Street. The committee contracted with Mr. John Augustus Manton, civil engineer, for the construction of an elegant, and substantial iron suspension bridge, to be finished within sixteen months from the date of the contract, and to cost £4500. The Governor signified his willingness to lay before the Council a Bill securing to the company a toll upon the bridge for the space of twenty-one years.
The company's shares were taken up, and it was agreed that £150 a year should be paid to the Government for the privilege of punt-plying. After this the punt charges were on a loaded dray, 2s. 6d., 1s. for each gig, and 2d. for a foot passenger. In 1842, the Government increased the annual rent of the punt to £200, and required the company to supply two constables to be always on duty there. The company and their engineer appear not to have got on amicably about "the elegant and substantial iron suspension bridge to be furnished within sixteen months," and a hitch occurred in the obtaining of a private Bill securing them in the toll for twenty-one years, for they stuck to the primitive punting for several years.
At a meeting of shareholders held on the 15th April, 1845, in the Royal Exchange Hotel, it was decided to have a fixed bridge. There was much controversy between the Superintendent (Latrobe) and the Bridge Company as to where the bridge was to cross the river. Latrobe favoured the end of Elizabeth Street, whilst the company preferred Swanston Street. At Elizabeth Street the water was twenty feet deep and the bottom composed of thick mud, whereas at the other place the depth was not more than seven feet, with a hard gravelly bed, and this led to the abandonment of the Elizabeth Street motion. Tenders were invited, and Mr. Alexander Sutherland's was accepted. According to contract he was to complete the bridge, approaches included, for £400, and the firstpile was driven on the 9th June. When his work was finished he found he had so far miscalculated in his estimate that it cost him £530, and for the £130 at the wrong side of his ledger he made an ineffectual appeal to the company. The bridge crossed the river in a slanting direction towards Edwards' boathouses, and (in 1883) I saw some of the old piles remaining where originally put down. In January, 1846, the bridge was leased to a Mr. R. A. Balbirnie, and it remained in the company's hands until superseded by the opening of a free Government bridge in 1850.
There was one circumstance connected with the old bridge, which ought not to be passed over sub silentio. During its existence it had but one keeper, who was as well-known as the river itself. Patrick Doherty, was intrepid and humane, and had been instrumental in his time in saving eight persons from drowning. The new bridge being free to the public, the toll-gatherer lost his occupation, and a subscription amounting to £25 was raised in recognition of his past conduct and on the 23rd of December, 1850, a presentation was made on the new bridge, when the Mayor (W. Nicholson) handed Doherty the " pony,"
