offices, giving him the additional charge of postmaster-general. In that ministry there was a small inner cabinet consisting of Berry, Major William Collard Smith, Patterson, and, afterwards, Sir Bryan O'Loghlen. Of these Patterson was the most active and carried most weight in the government. In March 1880 Berry's ministry fell, but in July another general election on the question of the reform of the constitution brought him back to power. On returning to office he retained only Patterson and Smith among his former colleagues. Patterson was appointed minister of railways. Profiting from experience he was extremely moderate in his counsels. Largely owing to his advocacy a compromise on the subject of the reform of the constitution was effected, by which the legislative council was enlarged and strengthened. He also made an unsuccessful effort to exempt the railway system from political influence.
On the defeat of the ministry in July 1881 Patterson went into opposition, but he had ceased to be a strong partisan. Convinced that the colony required a stable government, he and Simon Fraser succeeded in bringing about a coalition in 1883 between Berry and James Service [q. v. Suppl.] Under these leaders the country enjoyed a period of political tranquillity. In April 1889 he accepted the portfolio of minister of the customs in Duncan Gillies's ministry, which he had at one time strongly opposed, and succeeded in passing a new tariff, which consisted almost entirely of new or increased duties. This tariff he subsequently acknowledged he regretted more than anything in his political career. From June to September 1890 he filled the additional office of minister of public works, and from September to November that of postmaster-general. The energy with which he persuaded his colleagues to call out the troops in Melbourne in consequence of the disorders of the great maritime strike hastened the downfall of the ministry at the close of 1890. On 23 Jan. 1893, after a visit to England, he overthrew the administration of William Shiels, and was invited to form a ministry in which, besides the office of premier, he held that of minister of railways. Realising the unsound financial position of the colony, he sought a remedy in retrenchment and the development of the export trade. Early in his ministry, however, an astonishing succession of bank failures shattered public credit. He resisted incitements to extreme measures of relief for particular institutions, prepared by interested or panic-stricken persons, but he consented to the doubtful expedient of declaring a bank holiday of five days to give the banks time to collect their resources. Government's popularity was impaired by the financial distress, and in August 1894 Patterson was defeated on the budget. His successors, however, continued his financial policy.
Patterson was created K.C.M.G. in 1894, and died at Murrumbeena, near Melbourne, on 30 Oct. 1895. He was buried in Melbourne cemetery on 1 Nov. In 1857 he married Miss Walton. His wife died on 2 Dec. 1894, leaving an only child, who married Mr. A. Kaeppel.
[Melbourne Argus, 31 Oct. 1895; Mennell's Dict. of Australian Biogr. 1892; Annual Register.]
PAYN, JAMES (1830–1898), novelist, was born at Cheltenham on 28 Feb. 1830. His father, William Payn, was clerk to the Thames commissioners, and lived at Maidenhead. He was popular in the county, kept the Berkshire harriers, and was compared to a hero of the old English comedy. He died too early to be distinctly remembered by his son, who became the pet of his mother, an affectionate and beautiful woman. Payn's father had begun to initiate him in various country sports; but from a very early age he preferred books, and devoured such fiction as he could obtain. He was known as a story-teller at a preparatory school, to which he was sent at the age of seven. He suffered much bullying, and did not find Eton, to which he was sent at eleven, more congenial. He was hurt by the rejection of an article written for a school magazine, and the classical lessons gave him a, permanent dislike of Greek and Latin. He was always a very poor linguist. He was taken from Eton to be sent to a 'crammer' for the Woolwich academy, to which he had received nomination. He passed third in the examination for the academy, but had to leave it after a year on account of his health. It was then decided that he should take orders, and he passed a year with a private tutor in Devonshire. Here he found himself for the first time in congenial surroundings. He had been disgusted with the rigid discipline and the coarse amusements of his comrades at Woolwich, and had relieved himself by boyish escapades and by nursing his literary tastes. From Devonshire he sent an article describing the academy to 'Household Words,' then edited by Dickens. Its publication produced a remonstrance from the governor of the academy, and incidentally led to Payn's first communication with Dickens, for whom he always entertained the warmest regard
