Mayor (Nicholson) gave his casting vote for the amendment. H e said he did not think the Council was the proper body to take action in the matter. But the Council had often with his (Nicholson's) concurrence, travelled into more foreign regions. Even at the very same meeting they adopted an address to the Rev. John West, and Mr. W . P. Weston, two anti-Transportation delegates from V a n Diemen's Land, and the Mayor acquiesced. Singular that years after, this same William Nicholson introduced a ballot clause in the electoral law of the colony, which has never been altered, and upon the strength of this he received the designation ofthe "Father ofthe Ballot," a distinction which was scarcely deserved. Councillor Annand, tenacious of any purpose he took in hand, tested the Council again on the ballot question (4th April), and was beaten by a majority of 1 ; and in a week after, Councillor Heales introduced a motion approving of a close ballot in Municipal elections, which shared exactly the same fate. CITY MUNICIPAL STATISTICS.
The following comparative return was prepared by order of the Council : Value of House Property
1850
£ Gipps Ward Latrobe Ward ... Bourke Ward Lonsdale Ward ... Fitzroy Ward
1851
£
5. 2 39
33-9 62
32,033
40,084
i9,r5° 33,984 7,757
25,630
2
37,94o 16,447
Totals £ 118,163 £ 154,063 Increase in Value
...
... .£35,900
N o . of Houses
1850
1851
Gipps Ward ... Latrobe Ward Bourke Ward Lonsdale Ward Fitzroy Ward
1211
!33 2
862 717
929 803
754 508
737 768
Totals 4052
4569
Increase in number ...
... 517
The Lonsdale Ward decrease yvas attributed to the removal of several petty houses to make room for a better class of buildings. THE " MAZE" OF FITZROY.
On the 23rd May the Council had a tough job over the proclamation of the streets of Fitzroy. Streets had to be proclaimed ; and the difficulty was yvhere to begin and where to end. Every street proclaimed involved liabilities which, in the indescribable condition of such tracks, the Council were loath to assume. Alderman Greeves declared that the suburb covered 316 acres, and it yvould take 25 years to have its main thoroughfares metalled or finished. After much discussion it was decided that Brunswick Street should be opened, and proclaimed from Victoria Parade to Darebin Street, or the North Government Road ; Fitzroy Street proclaimed, but not widened, from Victoria Parade to William (since Moor) Street; Napier Street opened northward ; George Street proclaimed as far as W e b b Street, and the latter from the Eastern road (Smith Street) to Brunswick Street; Charles Street to the boundary line of sec. 69; William (Moor) Street to be opened and proclaimed from Eastern to Western roads (Smith and Nicholson Streets); nothing to be done in re Marion (alias Bellevue) Street, St. David or Gore Streets There were three " William " Streets originally in Collingwood, and one yvas altered to " Condell " and one to "Moor," after thefirstand second Mayors of Melbourne, whilst the third was royalized by having " King " as a prefix. T h efirstMarion Street was altered to " Palmer," after another Mayor, and the now Marion Street jumped up as an afterthought. At this time it was an impassable right-of-way. T h e present Bell Street, named after another of the Mayors, wasfirstknown as H a m b u r g Street. T h e Western road owes its present name of Nicholson Street to another Mayor, and the Eastern road yvas styled Smith Street after thefirstAlderman of Fitzroy. T h e North Government Road received the name of Reilly Street after one of thefirstCouncillors; and what was known as Charlotte Street, running from Victoria Parade to Moor Street, was dubbed Young Street, also after a Councillor of that n a m e ; whilst a bush-way, known as Argyle Street, was called after the well-known Alderman Kerr, and a narrow Argyle Street started as a
