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At the Royal Hotel, in Collins Street, on the evening of the 20th May, 1842, 120 gentlemen sat down to a repast which was said to have " reflected credit on the host." T h e Chair was taken by M r . William Verner, the Commissioner of Insolvency; Mr. F. A . Powlett, Commissioner of Crown Lands, officiating as Vice. Messrs. Henry Fowler, Robert Chamberlain, Peter Snodgrass, James Thompson, and Oliver Gourlay were the " guests of the evening," and were greeted with enthusiastic acclamation. Special invitations had been issued to the Revs. A. C. T h o m s o n (Episcopalian minister), M . Stevens ( R o m a n Catholic), and James Forbes (Presbyterian), but they declined the honour, because at the very time they yvere engaged daily in administering spiritual consolation to the unhappy m e n yvho were primarily the cause of the demonstration. T h e invariable introductory toasts were disposed of in the usual perfunctory manner, and after the health of Sir George Gipps, the Governor of N e w South AVales was "bumpered," a letter was read from the Superintendent (Mr. Latrobe), testifying " His Excellency's (Sir G. Gipps') satisfaction at hearing of the recent capture of the bushrangers on the Plenty, and at the spirited manner in yvhich it was effected." It further conveyed " to all the gentlemen w h o took part in the apprehension of the m e n his Excellency's thanks and acknoyvledgments of the service which they have rendered to the colony," adding " that he is quite satisfied a few instances of alacrity and gallantry such as they have displayed will do more to put d o w n bushranging than any measures which the Government, without the assistance of the settlers, could effect." T h e Chairman then rose, and said :—" Gentlemen, I have now the pleasing task of proposing ' T h e Health of our Gallant Guests'—of those intrepid heroes w h o have so nobly distinguished themselves by the capture of a band of desperadoes whose career of rapine and violence they have arrested at the imminent risk of their lives, the preservation of which must strike everyone, under the circumstances in which they were placed, as attributable solely to the special intervention of a protecting Providence. I a m sure there is no one here present yvho does not feel extremely indebted to our gallant friends for the services rendered not only to themselves, but to the district in general; and more especially those gentlemen who, like myself, are both husbands and fathers, must feel doubly on this occasion for having preserved their yvives and families from danger and injury. I, therefore, beg to add to our o w n their acknowlegments for the gallant conduct of our distinguished guests." T h e Chairman concluded amidst loud applause, and the toast yvas received yvith all the honours. Mr. Peter Snodgrass, yvho was gifted with great fluency, if not eloquence, was put up to reply "for self and fellows," and he did so in the following terms :— " I shall be believed, gentlemen, yvhen, in undertaking to return thanks for myself and brother volunteers, I assure you of the difficulty I find in expressing m y feelings yvith adequate effect and in appropriate terms. T h e kindness that, hoyvever, you have shoyvn in acknowledging our efforts for the peace and character of society, gives m e confidence in this unusual attempt, and yvith such sympathy yve are ready to brave a thousand times the dangers yve have encountered in the protection of our fellow colonists, their lives, and their properties. T h e generous applause w e have received will prove to the surrounding colonies and to far distant Britain, that the inhabitants of this country are as prepared to honour public services as, I trust, we have been in fulfilling our voluntary duties. But delightful as it is to meet with cordial thanks and a brilliant entertainment in return for the risk yve have run, our pleasure rises with the belief that such a demonstration is more an approval of the moral service yve have rendered by the suppression of vice, than the mere physical gallantry that has been so freely attributed to us. Your high-minded conduct, enhanced as it has been by public opinion, and honoured by the sanction of Government, must be an incentive to others to equal, if not to eclipse, our cheerful exertions in the c o m m o n cause. Under the encouragement of both, then, our actions are amply reyvarded, and the natural feelings of m e n gratified to the full extent of our pride." " T h e Bench and the Bar" was introduced by M r . J. L. Foster, and responded to by the Honorable J. Erskine Murray, in a speech from which I cull this extract, for the cogitation and digestion of the legal practitioners of to-day :— " M r . Poster has truly stated that to arrive at eminence in the legal profession, talent and integrity in its members are required perhaps more than in other professions. Such is doubtless the case, but there are other requisites than these most necessary for the Bar to possess, and without yvhich its character and its independence yvould be nothing. O u r guests of the evening have, by their late gallant conduct, evinced a