"On the 1oth August, 1855, the Ward Surveyor lodged with the committee a tracing of Latrobe Square, with a schedule of same, and of the properties therein required for the purposes of the Act, and instructions yvere issued that notice be given by advertisement to the owners of such properties to lodge claims for compensation. " O n the 24th August, 1855, the claim of M r . T h o m a s M a h o n e y for compensation for land in line of Latrobe Square ,£10,000, yvas referred to the W a r d Surveyor for report; and on the 7th September the committee resolved, with reference to spaces intended for Latrobe Square and Market Square, that the latter should have the prior claim, and directed the W a r d Surveyor to defer proceeding with Latrobe Square until further orders. O n the 15th February, 1856, a letter received from Mr. T h o m a s Walker, of Sydney, stating that the land required for the line of Fitzroy Street and Latrobe Square, claimed by Mahoney, was actually his (Walker's) property, yvas considered. Mahoney was in attendance, and informed of Walker's claim, and also that a clear title must be given by him to the property before any payment yvas m a d e for it. N o further action yvas taken yvith regard to the Square by the Committee ofthe City Council. In 1858 Fitzroy was separated from Melbourne, and became a separate Municipality. In i860 (September) the 'Fitzroy W a r d Improvement Act A m e n d m e n t Act' yvas passed, and transferred the powers, duties, etc, of the City Council to the Municipal Council. It gave the latter an extension of five years to take up any of the lands mentioned in the Original Act, yvhich the City Council had not taken up, and gave power to levy a rate of 3d. in the £ for purchase money. Nothing was done until the time expired, w h e n the powers of purchase ceased. T h e Square was lost, because the money to buy it was not found." Such is the official version of one of the queerest transactions to be met with in the Municipal annals of any country. But the sequel is equally queer. This legally opened and proclaimed " Square " is now said to be the property of a citizen of Fitzroy, that he holds an indefeasible title to it, and the Fitzroy Council have for years been receiving toyvn or city rates for the land. H o w , if all the facts detailed in Mr. Fitzgibbon's communication were disclosed, the title could have been passed, seems unaccountable. Certainly I a m not learned in the law, but yvith all due deference to the dicta of the T o w n Clerk of Melbourne, I incline to the belief that, yvhen once a public place is legally dedicated to the public, nothing short of an Act of Parliament can remove the effect of the dedication ; and that so long as the dedication of this land remains, and until the portions of the " Fitzroy W a r d Improvement Acts" referring to it are repealed, it continues to all intents and purposes vested in the public. T h e payment of a fair price for it, i.e., the value of the land in 1851, with interest, is another matter. If anyone legally oyvned it when it was taken up by the Corporation, either he or his representatives should be paid for it yvithout doubt ; but that is beside the main question at issue. It is also strange that though m u c h of the land about, said to belong to the reputed owner of the Square, has been sold and built on, not an inch ofthe Square has been alienated; and there it is to be seen to-day as open and unoccupied, but in a m u c h more passable condition than it was thirty years ago—yvhen, as the only Square in Melbourne City, it was named after our Gracious Queen.
Time has wrought some marvellous changes in the future of the Square, for I am now (1888) credibly informed that, notwithstanding legal obstacles, the Titles Office has issued a "clean bill of health" as to tenure, and as a consequence the face of things " on the Square " is undergoing quite a transformitory change. T h e locus of the old brickfield has been " j u m p e d " by an extensive skating rink; spacious buildings are springing up all round, and the Brunswick Street frontage, not worth eighteenpence per foot when annexed by the Corporation, is now eagerly sought after at ,£100 per twelve lineal inches 1 A CHANGE IN THE TOWN CLERKSHIP.
In the beginning of 1851, a vacancy occurred in this office consequent upon the acceptance by Mr. King of the appointment of delegate to the Anti-transportation League, and there was a good deal of speculation as to his successor. S o m e of the wise people w h o professed to k n o w everything before it happened, declared that Councillor Kerr had been for some time looking after the billet. T h e world never went over smoothly with him, H e was free-handed but unsuccessful in almost everything he touched.
