THE
CHRONICIES
OF EARLY
MELBOURNE.
559
There was some difficulty in obtaining a suitable site to commence operations. At length a portion of land was purchased between Collins and Little Flinders Streets West, in a marshyflat,where thefirstgas works were erected, and whence thefirstgas was supplied to a portion of the town. Finally there was a m o v e m e n t to the Yarra Bank, where the present establishment flourishes. In the course of the next year premiums were advertised for plans for gas buildings, M r . Charles Laing obtaining the first (,£25), and M r . Charles M a y e s the second (,£10). A gratuity was voted to M r . F. A. Allen for a gaswork model, a gift from him to the company. A n Act of Incorporation was sought from thefirstLegislative Council of Victoria, but in thefirstinstance unsuccessfully, for, though " T h e Melbourne Gas and Coke Bill" passed through all its other stages, its third reading was negatived on 5th January, 1852. It had better luck the next Session, w h e n it became law. T h e Rev. John Allen remained Secretary for some time, until the increasing business of the concern led to his retirement. In their Fourth Annual Report to the shareholders for July, 1854, the then Directors stated :—" Before concluding their Report your Directors cannot refrain from alluding to the services rendered to the company by their present Secretary, M r . John Allen. They remember that from thefirstc o m m e n c e m e n t of the company up to the present time, save for a short period at the time of the gold discovery, he has been connected with it, and devoted the whole of his valuable time to the promotion of its interests at a salary barely sufficient to pay house rent. Recently an addition has been made, but they hope that w h e n the company's works are available and producing, his labour will not be forgotten."
WATER. The Melbourne water question exhumes some very queer remembrances. Originally the city was solely dependent upon the Yarra water, which was frequently unfit for m a n or beast. In hot weather it was likened to a compounded dose of lukewarm water and Glauber salts; and though it was physic one would hardly throw to the dogs, the people of Melbourne had to swallow it, though often rectified with large dashes of execrable r u m or brandy. Perhaps this rendered it more palatable ; but, diluted or undiluted, the Yarra draught was a bitter one to imbibe. N o doubt the river was, in one sense, pure enough, for it was free of the hundred abominations it n o w receives from those emporia of native industries, R i c h m o n d and Collingwood. Originally the beverage was only procurable at such hours of the morning and evening w h e n the tide had receded—periods anxiously watched by a new order of tide-waiters. Yarra water wasfirstobtained only by bucketting, but the impossibility of supplying the increasing requirements in this way led to the establishment of p u m p s by private enterprise, and the institution of a water-carrying trade. T h e " Falls" opposite Q u e e n Street were soon utilized, and one of the first works executed pro bono publico was the raising of the natural rocky obstruction to such a height that whilst it did not impede the downflow of the river, it prevented to a great extent m u c h of the saline admixture forced up by the tide, for even salt water does not run up-hill. But the d a m m i n g was never properly done. It was patched and peddled in such an imperfect manner that, though it improved the water supply to a considerable extent, it never cleansed it of that brackishness which rendered it so distasteful and injurious to health. At intervals along the north side of the river's bank, from the " Falls" to below the site of Prince's Bridge, ran a line of rudely-constructed pumps, from which the water was discharged into barrels mounted on carts, and delivered to householders at so m u c h a barrel, ranging (according to the times) at from 2s. to 10s.; 3s. a load was the average rate. In the case of a building contractor requiring any considerable quantity, he would be supplied at is. or is. 6d. per barrel. In each dwellingyard there was placed, close to the gate, a receiving barrel, into which, by means of a hose and a square opening cut in the fence, the waterman used to empty the liquid element. O n e load of water per week sufficed for the majority of families, and, presuming a load to be delivered on Monday, its residue was the reverse of pleasant drinking on the Friday or Saturday following, by which time m a n y of the household barrels contained an unsavoury sediment of mosquitos, centipedes, spiders and cockroaches, dead, alive, and dying. In December, 1839, a M r . A. Langhorne struck a spring well at Williamstown—an event which it was declared would ensure the rapid rise and prosperity of that township. Others turned up at Brighton
