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Quarter and Petty Sessions. If a man was to be hanged, or made insolvent, a probate or letter of administration to be applied for, a title to land or bill of sale to be registered, the delay, risk, and expense of recourse to Sydney interposed an inconvenience amounting almost to a denial of justice. N o merchant or tradesman could locally recover the smallest account, for, though the Court of Requests Act had been passed, no Court had been appointed for the district until April, and even then it could only adjudicate on claims not exceeding £ i o . There was no m o d e of detaining a runaway creditor unless vi et armis, and if a baffled bolter were subjected to such process, he could not readily bring an action for false imprisonment. There was no coroner to hold an inquest, or pilot to bring a vessel into the Bay, or means for procuring the mails when they arrived. Harbour or wharf accommodation did not exist. T h e Queen's Wharf was a mud-flat, and the vessels coming up the Yarra had to be m a d e fast to the stumps of trees. T h efirstpile for the Melbourne Wharf was not driven until September, 1841. Though people managed to ascertain the day of the month and week, they were ignorant of the correct time o' day, and a precise answer to " W h a t o'clock is it ?" could not be had, for there was no such thing as a public clock. T h e clocks and watches in town ticked away as they liked, fast or slow, subject only to the regulation of the sun's rise or set ; and the two or three watchmakers in business were in a state of literal chronic disagreement, for no two of them were ever known to approach to even a rough approximation of h o w the hours were gliding by. This so incommoded business as to stimulate thefirstco-operative effort in the public subscription line wherewith to buy an old-fashioned clock which an enterprising watchmaker, named Ley, had ventured to bring with him from England. H e offered to sell it to the commonwealth for ,£65, and " the hat " was accordingly sent round. T h e whole amount was at length raised (on paper) ; but next arose the difficulty of turning the promises into a legal tender. Mr. D. C. M'Arthur patriotically volunteered his services as an emergency man, and the clock became the property of the public ; but it had no sooner changed hands than "the public" was disappointed in having no suitable place wherein to put it. T h e market reserve was the only locus in quo likely to secure general approbation ; but there was no tower orfixtureof any kind to which it could be elevated. It was suggested that a pillar, pedestal, or obelisk should be erected in the centre of the square for the purpose; but as this would necessitate either a further levy, or the floating of a public loan, it was not to be seriously thought of. There was a large g u m tree growing in a corner, and the notion occurred of providing an upper bunk for the time-piece there, until an expert announced that on windy days the vibration of the clockcase would affect the equilibrium to so great an extent as to render it impossible for the pendulum to observe due regularity in its oscillations. T h e clock was looked upon as something akin to a white elephant, so it was deposited in the police office, and there it remained in d u m b show, a silent, if not always a solitary prisoner, on the floor of the court until 1843, when it attained the height of its ambition by being placed on the summit of thefirstPost Office erected on the site of the present pretentious edifice. Letter-carriers were not yet k n o w n ; and there was no street letter-delivery until an arrangement was sanctioned in March, by which a private person acted as post-letter carrier, and was paid for his trouble by such of the public as chose to accept his services. This practice continued until Government provided a regular red-coated Mercury. Another postal abuse was the non-delivery of the English ship mails, which included nine-tenths of the letters and newspapers received. There were no funds to meet such a contingency; and as it depended on the pleasure of the captains of vessels, important mails were delayed sometimes for a couple of days or more in the Bay before they reached Melbourne. T h e second great effort at a public subscription was to provide for fencing the General Cemetery. T h efirstburial ground was on a side of the Flagstaff Hill; but it was found to be unsuitable, and a reserve of eight acres was granted where the Old Graveyard now is. Interments were thenceforth m a d e there ; and as it was a mere open track, the sights became repugnant to public feeling. Stray cattle grazed and trampled on the graves ; but pigs and dogs learned to do worse. A s Mr. M'Arthur financed the T o w n Clock movement, so Mr. J. H . Patterson took that of the cemetery in hand, and by a persistent door to door solicitation, and collections in some of the churches, ^,'200 was obtained, and the good work partially accomplished.