of Queen and Collins Streets, where he lingered in intense agony until the folloyving morning. Mrs. Blanch was conveyed to the Police Office, on the other side of the Market Square, and died almost immediately after. She was in such an advanced state of pregnancy that the unborn babe was actually seen alive for a feyv moments by the medical attendants ! T h e two strangers yvere humanely taken in by a Mr. Shaw, the keeper of an hotel in Little Flinders Street, yvhere they were skilfully and kindly ministered to for a fortnight, when they died. Shaw afterwards applied ineffectually to the Government for some remuneration for the trouble and expense to which he had been put. Macecknie, the tobacconist, yvhose house sustained no injury, was attended to at h o m e ; but he also expired on the 29th December, and on the last day ofthe year was buried in the Presbyterian subdivision of the Cemetery. H e was a favourite yvith his countrymen from " T h e Land o'Cakes," and his funeral was attended by nearly every adult Caledonian settler in and about the toyvn. But a most extraordinary fact remains to be mentioned with respect to " Charles," the yvaiter, and only survivor. AVith only a blackened face he yvas removed to yvhere he was employed, and having sustained no vital injury, he soon became all right. U p to the accident his face yvas deeply pock pitted, but during the process of recovery, with the disappearance of the discoloration, a new skin greyv like a mask over his face, rendering the pock marks invisible ; and when convalescent he appeared before an astonished public with a fair and smooth face, and lived in Melbourne for many years after. The Blanches leftfiveorphan children, who were at school at the time of the mishap, and a sum of money was raised by public subscription for their assistance. O n e of m y informants yvas an eye-yvitness of the occurrence, and declared that at the time of the explosion a Mrs. Jackson was sitting in an upstair room, and was blown under a sofa, but not injured. I have no doubt such was his impression, hoyvever formed, though an event of the kind could hardly be possible, considering the whole house, except part of the roof and outer timber partitions was blown away, and even these were onfireuntil it was put out through the daring gallantry of Ensign M'Cormick, who went aloft for that purpose at no small risk to his o w n safety. Blanch's stock of powder was rather limited, and if it had been larger, the Club House would have come to grief, and with it some colonists yvho did good service in after years, viz, Messrs. C. H . Ebden, T. F. Hamilton, Peter Snodgrass, and three or four other notabilities, who would have gone to glory. Singularly too, after all the harm was done, a small keg of powder was found untouched in a corner of the demolished shop. T h e frightful occurrence naturally created a profound sensation, and yvas talked over with a shuddering feeling of deep commiseration for the hapless victims; and it still lives a terrible spectre in the traditions of the colony. It supplied the newspapers with a potent reason to call loudly for the erection of a powder magazine, and the enforcement of stringent regulations for the custody of gunpowder, but it was several years before the Executive took any steps in the matter. ANOTHER EXPLOSION.
On the 19th July, 1849, the portion of the Eastern Hill in Collins Street, in front of the Argus office was being lowered, and a formidable ledge of rock lay in the way. This the contractors (Messrs. Gavin and Roberts) had to blast. Mr. Samuel Crook had an undertaker's and carpenter's establishment on the site of the present Victoria Coffee Palace opposite. T h e quarriers sprung a blast, when the explosion was such that some of the stony projectiles dashed through the windows of Crook's show-room smashing ten squares of glass. O n e heavy block passed through the roof of a work-shop several yards rearward of Crook's, and the windows of the shop of Mr. Cracknell, a turner, yvere dashed in, but no damage was done to life 'or limb. There was m u c h consternation over the occurrence, for the blasting operations were heedlessly conducted in the middle of the day, and without any intimation to the public. THE STORAGE OF GUNPOWDER
In Melbourne was utterly disregarded, notwithstanding the explosion of 1839, and the well-known fact that powder was kept in considerable quantities in some of the shops and stores in Melbourne It was imported, and often brought up to Melbourne promiscuously with other cargo, and landed at the wharf regardless of consequences. T h e people were alarmed, and the newspapers denounced such a gross disregard of the public safety, but an apathetic Government closed its ears, and heard-or pretended to h e a r -
