Hugh Walker; Teller, Mr. C. L. Hussey; Clerks, Messrs. George Porter, James Bogle, and R. S. Maitland. T h e discount days were Mondays and Thursdays, and the terms of business were :— Interest allowed.—On current accounts, at the rate of 4 ^ per cent, on the daily balance; on deposit receipts, subject to ten days' notice previous to withdrawal, 5 per cent, per annum ; on deposit receipts, subject to three months' notice, 7 per cent, per annum. Interest charged.—On bills not exceeding three months' currency, 10 per cent, per a n n u m ; on bills exceeding three months, 12 per cent, per a n n u m ; on past due bills and overdrawn accounts, 12 per cent. per annum. Towards the close of 1844, the banks ceased to alloyv interest on deposits, and in December, 1846, they resolved to discontinue the payment of cheques payable to "order." All such documentsJhenceforth were m a d e payable to " bearer." This was done as a protection against fraud. The premises of the bank were subsequently enlarged to meet the immense rush of business biought on by the gold discoveries in 1851. In its transition stages from the cottage to the palace, the bank underwent four transmigrations, the last being the present splendid edifice at the corner of Queen and Collins Streets, whereon for many years had stood a large Wesleyan chapel. T h e land on which the new bank is built was purchased for ,£24,000, and the building erected thereon cost ,£30,000. Mr. McArthur may be justly styled the Patriarch of Victorian Banking, and of him m a y it in truth be written that no colonist, through a long, honourable, and oft-times unpleasant career, has more justly earned for himself the reputation of being a conscientious, considerate, and obliging public officer, and an upright citizen. H e passed from the Melbourne managership to the position of general superintendent, and after several years' service in this responsible post, retired on a liberal superannuation allowance, and was one of the Managing Directors until his death on the 15th November, 1887. THE UNION BANK OF AUSTRALIA
Took over the business of the Derwent Bank Agency, and on the 8th October 1838, opened a branch in Melbourne. It was also driven to be content with a " tyvo-roomed cottage and a back skillion." This money-changing cottage stood at the corner of Queen and Little Flinders Streets, and the manager was Mr. William Highett. Between the two managers, though there was an honest rivalry, there yvas no enmity, and they got on very well together. But Highett never took kindly to McArthur's bull-dogs. The thing was all very well in theory; but practically he looked upon such a precaution as nonsense, and whenever he met McArthur, he never failed to enquire " H o w are the dogs ?" T h e question or salutation "How's the poodles?" was unknoyvn at that day. But experience soon taught Mr. Highett that live bull-dogs m a y at times be more useful in bank protection than thefire-armslangily known by the same designation. N o w of all the axioms in bank defensive operations, perhaps the soundest is, to place the treasury, or cash safes, in the middle of the building ; but in the double-roomed cottages referred to, the want of space rendered the observance of this condition impossible. A s stated, Mr. McArthur had his cottage-bank environed with a spike-studded fence or palisade, and his protectors when off the chain, were free to amuse themselves as they liked, in an enclosed circuit round the building; whereas the Union Bank cottage was so placed that its walls abutted unprotected upon two streets. T h e Little Flinders Street side was probably the more exposed part; yet against this side wall the bank safe was placed, with perhaps not more than a brick-and-a-half or two bricks of thickness between it, and the outer world. T h e sharp-eyed burglars not only noticed the strategical mistake, but very soon took advantage of it; for on the night of the 29th May, 1840, an adroit, and nearly successful attempt yvas made to plunder the Bank. T h e part of the wall corresponding with the exact position of the safe (of course previously ascertained) was operated upon; the bricks yvere easily and noiselessly removed, and an aperture sufficient for the safe's exit effected ; but as the thieves were adjusting a rope round their booty, an unintentional noise aroused the manager, who, jumping out of his " skillion " dormitory, raised an alarm, and, res infecta, the night-birds flew away, cursing their ill-luck and disappointment. A few minutes more without
