Mr. John Bourke, a well-to-do hotelkeeper, was appointed Vice-President, and Mr. Timothy Lane was always regarded as a sort of Permanent Treasurer. M r . P. J. Cregin was appointed Secretary. A special vote of thanks was accorded to M r . O'Shanassy, as a recognition of his valuable services; and a Sub-Committee appointed to organize a memorial presentation to him. This was subsequently carried to a successful issue by means of a subscription, and Mr. O'Shanassy was the recipient of a silver tea service, not procurable in Melbourne, but which was purchased in Sydney. There was m u c h difficulty in finding a building capable of accommodating thefirstVictorian Legislative Council to be called together before the year was over. O n the' 9th May, 1851, St. Patrick's Hall was rented for the purpose for three years at the rate of ,£300 per annum. Such a temporary tenancy offered pecuniary advantages to the Society that could not be prudently overlooked, so the Government went in, and the members went out, and had to put up as well as they could with the accommodation provided at hotels. W h e n the three years' tenure expired the baby Parliament had no better place to go to, and it remained there at a yearly rent increased
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^ ^ S 0 0 (justified by the enormously enhanced value of town property) until the end of 1856, when two branches of Legislation were created, and the present Parliament House occupied. W h e n the Society returned to their old roof-tree they re-entered an edifice so altered as to be unknown, except by the outer brick shell,forpublic money had been profusely spent in improvements and alterations, m u c h required, but which the state of the Society's purse would have rendered simply impossible. T h e members were n o w well in funds from the Government rental, and their Institution progressed and prospered. In 1862, M r . Finn was again President, and it was considered desirable (if practicable) to bring the Society under the operation of the Friendly Societies Act then in force, and to affiliate sick and funeral benefits. There were formidable legal difficulties in the way of doing so, arising out of the advanced age of the majority of the members, and their individual interest in the c o m m o n fund. T h e President, however, grappled with the obstacles, and with the valuable co-operation, freely afforded, of M r . W . H . Archer, the then Government Actuary, the Society was duly registered. From a reserve capital of ,£3000 one-third was appropriated as the nucleus of a Benefit Fund, and the residue for the Incidental Fund, the whole to be administered under an equitable, and stringently revised, code of laws. O n Mr. Finn's final retirement from the Presidency, he was testimonialized in a very special manner. His fellow-members presented him with a massive silver cup, the Society, in its corporate capacity, endowed him as a Life M e m b e r of the Melbourne Hospital, and elected him an Honorary Life M e m b e r of St. Patrick's. T h e Society is still in existence ; it has a grand opportunity, and an important part to play in the future. It was the only one of the Old National Fraternities which by perseverance, sagacity, and a broad and enlightened patriotism, tided safely over innumerable difficulties, financial, factious, sectarian, and political; and should it ever collapse, it will be only through the absence of the managerial tact and other gifts, to which it owes a prolonged existence denied to contemporaries inaugurated for purposes equally as praiseworthy.
SAINT GEORGE.
The Englishmen of Port Phillip, though in number and otherwise the most influential segment of the early colonists, manifested little disposition to honour their great traditionary Apostle, until stimulated by the examples of the Scotch and Irish, when they shook off their apathy. O n the 29th January, 1845, a public meeting was convened at the Royal Hotel in Collins Street for the founding of a Society of St. George. S o m e preliminary consultations had previously been held in the chambers of Mr. E. E. Williams, a leading m e m b e r of the Bar, whereat a Code of Rules was prepared, and an enrolment made of thirty-seven individuals, w h o were consequently taken to constitute the original members. T h e Mayor (Dr. Moor) was appointed Chairman, a progress Report was submitted, and the Rules were agreed to, one of them prescribing that all future candidates for membership should be balloted for at the monthly meeting of the Committee.
